Karger was born January 31, 1950 in Glencoe, Illinois. Karger was interested in acting from an early age and moved to Los Angeles after high school where he had several supporting roles in commercials and movies. He quit his acting career in 1977 to join The Dolphin Group, a republican advocacy organization. During his 27 years with the Dolphin Group Karger served as a political advisor and led a number of campaigns for Governors, Senators and other national and local-level candidates. In 2011 Karger announced his candidacy for President of the United States. He is the first openly gay candidate to run for a major political party.