Fred S Karger

Fred S. Karger is an American political consultant and gay rights activist. His unsuccessful run for the 2012 Republican nomination for President made him America’s first openly gay presidential candidate from either major political party.

Karger has worked on nine presidential campaigns and served as a senior consultant to the campaigns of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford. Karger was a partner at the Dolphin Group, a California campaign consulting firm. He retired after 27 years and has since worked as an activist on gay rights causes. In 2008 he founded Californians Against Hate and led boycotts of several large donors to California’s Proposition 8, an initiative to outlaw gay marriage in California.