Look overhead, what’s that floating over the Milwaukee County Skyline? Is it a Chinese spy balloon? Nope, it’s David Karst’s overly inflated ego filled with an abundance of hot air.
Recently, News Undone broke the story that embattled Milwaukee County GOP Chairman, David Karst, announced that he’s not running for Chairman again. At last, we are saved! So why am I writing this? David Karst has a history of clinging to power with ferocity and my gut tells me that there is more to this.
Over the years, I have been very critical of the of the Milwaukee County GOP and the inept ‘leadership’ of long-time Chairman David Karst. Under his watch, the County has been hemorrhaging votes in every election cycle and has fallen into utter mediocrity, or worse.
MILWAUKEE COUNTY MATTERS.
Even though Milwaukee County is a Democrat stronghold, it is also home to the second-largest base of Republicans in the state. Only Waukesha County has more. I have always reminded people of how important Milwaukee County is in statewide elections. A one percent swing equals thousands of votes. Unless we get 35% or more in Milwaukee County, we lose the state. EVERY TIME.
David Karst has presided over one of the largest vote slides in the state, second only to maybe Dane County’s slide. Following their Chairman’s example, the Milwaukee GOP has been largely AWOL for years. Voter engagement, candidate engagement, support, and recruitment have been virtually non-existent. Karst has failed to build any real political operation in Milwaukee County and as a result, we have seen Republicans going from about 40% and winning statewide elections, to an anemic 30% and losing statewide elections.
In 2020, Karst and the Milwaukee GOP were completely invisible as usual. This led to Trump only getting about 31%, thus losing Wisconsin. We did eventually see Karst actually do something and hold an event at Serb Hall, AFTER TRUMP HAD ALREADY LOST. But wait, that was not his event, that was organized by David Clarke and Vicki McKenna. True to form, Karst was so lazy that he was just leaching off the efforts of others.
Karst’s mediocre leadership can be better described in one word, IMPOTENT.
Of course, he had the audacity to think his mediocrity should be rewarded and he ran for State Assembly. He even used his power as Chairman to get the Milwaukee GOP to give his own campaign $1,000 in early 2022. That’s right, giving his own campaign money while several Conservative Spring Election candidates throughout the County DID NOT RECEIVE A DIME. The Milwaukee County GOP was so lazy they didn’t even bother to send emails about the candidates. Is this the temperament of good leadership?
He even had the Northshore Republican Branch pimping him even though he had a primary and the Northsore is not part of the 84th District. Well thankfully, the people of the District saw through his rouse and Karst lost his primary by nearly 3-1. That speaks volumes! Karst had his ass handed to him in the Primary even though he tried to flex his power and stack the deck. Thank goodness the state was spared his impotent leadership in the Legislature.
Basically, David karst has been Milwaukee County GOP Chairman for way too long an needs to go away fast. He has served as Milwaukee GOP Chairman since 2008, with exception of 2016-2018, where he was defeated by Sam Hagedorn for one term.
Even though Karst was technically out, his ‘people’ still occupied the other leadership seats and did everything to sabotage Hagedorn at every turn. Karst was still in charge. And because David Karst is an entitled brat, the only time he has actually lifted a finger to do anything was to get his old job back. Nice to see that he works hard for a ‘volunteer position.’
I guess he just loves sitting at the head table of the annual lincoln Day dinner or if a VIP comes to Milwaukee. Lord knows, he does nothing else.
RNC National Convention.
In 2024 Milwaukee will host the RNC National Convention, and we are going to be in the national spotlight. It defiantly would be embarrassing to see Karst’s impotent leadership on display for the whole world to see. Well, there’s hope.
As I reported a few weeks ago, having lost the confidence of the grassroots and feeling pressure and a new challenge to his leadership, Karst had a temper tantrum at a meeting and abruptly announced he was not going to run for Chairman again. FINALLY, HE’S GOING AWAY
NOT SO FAST!
There is no way Karst would give up so easily, his ego clearly knows no bounds. I have been saying that Karst will likely orchestrate a floor nomination at Caucus in order to keep his fancy title. I even alluded to it in an article from a few days ago about the pathetic Milwaukee and Dane primary numbers. It was sort of tongue-in-cheek…sort of.
Surprise surprise, an entrenched vocal club in Milwaukee County is planning to nominate the failed Chairman from the floor. Alright, let’s call them out by name, the Northshore Republicans. They apparently love the mediocrity of Karst’s leadership and that his ‘talents’ are worthy of another 2-year term. What’s more they feel entitled to their stranglehold on the Milwaukee County GOP. THEY ARE WRONG.
It’s Hard to believe people like this actually exist, but they do. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. If only these people who support Karst understood basic math, they would see he’s not worthy of another term and he should have been shown the door a long time ago.
The same people pushing Karst are responsible for the Milwaukee GOP pushing out any energized activists who would like to join the party but don’t see it as a serious operation. Instead they see it as a social club of incompetent, unorganized insiders who enjoy a few Pints and Politics events and an annual Lincoln Dinner. Again, not seen as serious people.
If they do indeed nominate Karst from the floor, you can be sure there will be an aggressive pushback and will result in his failed record coming to light in front of his face. Expect Karst to be embarrassed? Probably not, but, there will be some intense discussion.
Here’s the reality, not only has Karst’s record on GOTV in Milwaukee County been a dismal failure, but the party has failed to register voters, and they have no early vote program. They cannot even manage keep the Milwaukee GOP office open more that a few hours per week.
Under David Karst and his current leadership team, the Milwaukee County GOP membership has fallen to a pathetic 200 members. Again, this is in the 2nd largest Republican county in the state. This alone should have Karst running in shame, and his leadership team as well.
It’s not enough to just unseat Karst, but e need new people IN EVERY POSITION in the Milwaukee GOP. Everyone will have a challenger.
To David Karst and those who plan to nominate him from the floor – it is not worth it. Move on Karst, find something else to do, and allow new talent to clean up the total mess we have in Milwaukee County. No, I am not delusional, I recognize that changing leadership alone will fix everything. It will take time to unravel this cluster of a mess.
We have a major election for the very balance of the State Supreme Court in a few short weeks. Dan Kelly is our candidate and it is a must-win or lose-everything situation. Getting 31% again in Milwaukee County all but guarantees a Liberal Supreme Court going forward. Is David Karst’s ego worth losing EVERYTHING we have fought for over the past two decades or longer?
Remember Einstein’s definition of insanity. We need to take MILWAUKEE COUNTY in a new direction. We need to pop that balloon.
The Milwaukee County GOP Caucus is Saturday morning. Currently 4 candidates are looking to run for Chair of the Milwaukee GOP. Their resumes and information can be found below.
P.S. Karst fly away!
