Karen Olick
Karen Olick started in politics 25 years ago working on presidential and U.S. Senate campaigns in many states around the country.
A Congressional Upset and Strong Senate Defense
In this last cycle, Karen was the general strategist and media consultant to Frank Kratovil, the newly elected Congressman for the first district in Maryland — a red district held by a Republican Congressman for the last 18 years. Karen was also part of the media team that re-elected Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu to her third term in a state that voted for John McCain by 60 percent.
Progressive Politics on the Hill and in Nonprofits
Prior to joining SKD, Karen served for 13 years as Chief of Staff to Senator Barbara Boxer, D-CA, after electing her to her first term in 1992. In 2006, Karen was asked to head up a nonprofit organization called Americans United for Change, which was established in 2005 to defeat the Bush plan to privatize Social Security. Under Karen's leadership, the group's mandate quickly expanded to include other issues such as corruption in government, increasing the minimum wage, healthcare for all Americans, protecting our homeland and opposing the escalation of the Iraq war. After assuming the helm, the group received national attention by launching an aggressive advertising campaign chastising conservatives on the issue of government corruption and taking on the stay-the-course policies of the Bush administration.
Karen has served in a wide variety of positions on campaigns for the last 25 years including chief strategist to Senator Barbara Boxer and campaign manager and a senior advisor in several other U.S. Senate races — including Senator Tom Harkin, D-IA and Senator Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ, and the presidential campaigns of Joe Biden and Walter Mondale.