Sausage Declares Victory In Race It Did Not Enter

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.—Johnsonville declared its sausage the winner of Tuesday's elections shortly after 8 p.m., closing a campaign that began in September with yard signs, billboards and a candidate with no position on any issue except dinner. The sausage was not on any ballot. Officials said this did not appear to slow it down.

The "Sausage for Dinner" campaign, a political parody detailed by Marketing Dive, ran billboards reading "Affordable Protein for the People" and "A Sausage in Every Air Fryer," and cast actor Rob Riggle as a sausage envoy. On Monday the brand handed out 1,000 $20 promo codes at a pop-up in Rosa Parks Circle, which a fictional campaign aide called the largest get-out-the-dinner effort in state history.

The brand cited Harris Poll research finding that more than eight in 10 Americans think society has become too political and about three-quarters hate political ads. More than a third said they had forgotten to plan dinner at least once because of current events. "That is our base," said Hollis Brandt, a fictional senior strategist. "People who look up from the news at 6:45 and see an empty pan."

campaign, a political parody detailed by Marketing Dive, ran billboards reading

The sausage led in 41 of 50 fictional exit polls, which asked voters leaving the polling place what they planned to eat. In the remaining nine, the leader was whatever is in the freezer, a coalition the campaign described as strong but disorganized.

In its victory statement, the sausage pledged to serve all households equally, regardless of how they voted, and thanked Amazon Ads for its 30-minute recipe content. Johnsonville also pledged $100,000 to Hunger Free America, which the sausage called the first campaign promise of the cycle to be kept by Wednesday.

I bought a package Tuesday afternoon and weighed one link. (I weighed it: 113 grams.) Judge, my scale, recorded no party affiliation. I read the ingredients aloud to my kitchen. The kitchen did not cheer, but it did not boo.

At press time the sausage had begun its transition, which consisted of being moved from the refrigerator to the air fryer, and had declined to take questions.

Celeste Abernathy covers packaged goods and weighs everything first. Judge, her kitchen scale, assisted. More from Celeste Abernathy ›

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