Political consultant Karger's political career began with the Dolphin Group in 1977. He served as executive vice president and
chief financial officer through 2004. During his tenure, Karger helped lead the campaigns of
California Governor George Deukmejian, Lt. Governor
Mike Curb, the presidential campaigns of Senator
Robert Dole (R-
KS), Senator
Paul Laxalt (R-
NV), Governor
John Connally (R-
TX), Senator
Charles Percy (R-
IL) and dozens of other federal, state and local candidates. He managed statewide and local
ballot measure campaigns, judicial campaigns, and served on several campaign finance and steering committees.
2012 presidential campaign On April 10, 2010, Karger held a press conference at the
Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC) in
New Orleans, to announce that he was "seriously considering becoming a candidate for President of the United States in 2012 as an Independent Republican." He attended the SRLC with other potential candidates for the Republican presidential ticket such as
Sarah Palin,
Ron Paul,
Rick Santorum,
Newt Gingrich and
Gary Johnson. This was the day after GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced forming his 2012 exploratory committee; Karger declared himself the "Anti-Romney" candidate, and later stated that he "plans to run a campaign specifically designed to throw a wrench into Romney's run." After making the announcement, Karger traveled to
Iowa and
New Hampshire several times, holding
town hall meetings, talking to voters, as well as meeting with political,
LGBTQ, AIDS organization leaders, and the media. On July 18, 2010, Karger announced he had formed an
exploratory committee for the
United States presidential election of 2012. In November 2010, Karger aired a weeklong ad campaign in
Iowa which was described as the first television commercial of the 2012 presidential race. His campaign made use of the slogan "Fred Who?" Steve Scheffler, an Iowa delegate to the national
Republican National Committee, said Karger was part of the "radical homosexual community." Karger stated that his campaign "budget is five to six million, which is, of course, a congressional race budget", and indicated that his "goal in running" was "to inspire the next generation through his candidacy." Karger's candidacy was described as a long shot, with one interviewer indicating that "[t]he question on the minds of many" is "does he think he has a snowball's chance? The answer to that is, yes and no." On March 31, 2011, Karger won the
Saint Anselm College Republicans Presidential Straw Poll, receiving 25% of the vote of the
Goffstown, New Hampshire, school's student body and employees. He defeated
Mitt Romney by five votes. In late April 2011, Karger attended the national convention of the
Log Cabin Republicans in
Dallas, Texas and declared to the conservative gay organization that he wants his presidential campaign to "open up" the Republican Party and send a message to young people and gay people: "You can do anything you want to do." Karger told
OC Weekly that gay Republicans need to "stand up and be proud in a tough atmosphere." In June 2011, he filed a formal complaint with Massachusetts authorities, accusing fellow Republican nomination candidate Mitt Romney of having registered and voted in Massachusetts when his primary residence was in another state. On July 13, 2011, Karger called fellow GOP presidential candidate
Michele Bachmann a "liar, hypocrite, and bigot" when she refused to comment on allegations Bachmann's husband was using
conversion therapy in his clinic to attempt to cure gays of homosexuality and saying that homosexuality was a choice. Karger was not present at the debates during 2011 and 2012. He appeared on the primary or caucus ballot in six states (Michigan, Iowa, New Hampshire, Maryland, California, and Utah) and one territory (Puerto Rico), where he came in fourth place. On June 29, 2012, following the Utah Republican presidential primary and the California Democratic presidential primary, Karger officially ended his campaign. His final financial report to the
Federal Election Commission indicated that his campaign had total receipts of $591,719.94, of which $518,507.09 had been contributed by Karger himself. A documentary about Karger's presidential campaign,
Fred, premiered at the Monadnock International Film Festival on April 4, 2014.
Post-presidential campaign activities In 2019, Karger endorsed the second openly gay presidential candidate,
Pete Buttigieg, the Democratic mayor of
South Bend, Indiana, co-hosting a fundraiser for Buttigieg's campaign with his partner. ==Political positions==