Political campaigns are a tough business these days. Ask Karen Giorno, and she’ll tell you all about it. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone in the state of Florida who has more scar tissue from bruising political battles than her.
Giorno has a long, storied career in politics, including having represented many national political figures such as former President George H.W. Bush, former First Lady Laura Bush, Florida Governor Rick Scott, and others at the state and federal levels.
More recently, she played a pivotal role in helping Donald Trump secure the 2016 GOP nomination and ultimately his victory in the General Election as a senior political advisor.
In fact, Giorno was one of the earliest hires in the blue collar billionaire’s long-shot run for the Oval Office. Back in the summer of 2015, she was recruited as the Florida State Director for the Trump Campaign.
Despite the inherent challenges of running an upstart campaign in a massive state such as Florida, Giorno persevered. She was able to build out a statewide staff and strategy, targeting all 67 counties in Florida with Donald Trump’s America First messages. Though she will quickly acknowledge that when you have the best candidate who’s willing to campaign day and night and considers Florida his second home, the message sells itself.
Regarding Giorno’s leadership during the 2016 primaries, Michael A. Barnett, Chairman of the Republican Party of Palm Beach County and Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida said, “Karen demonstrated strong leadership as a senior advisor to candidate Donald J. Trump and mobilized a massive grassroots ground campaign that helped deliver Florida to Trump in the presidential preference primary.”
After the primaries, Giorno’s success was rewarded with promotions as a regional political director for the Trump Campaign, overseeing the political organizations across several southern states, and later during the General Election campaign as a national coalitions director and the leader of the Women for Trump tour. On the tour, she worked with such national Trump surrogates as Lara Trump, Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Katrina Pierson, and social media stars Diamond and Silk.
“Karen was one of the first experienced political operatives I hired for Mr. Trump’s campaign in the summer of 2015,” said Michael Glassner, Chief Operating Officer for Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. “She was an essential part of our winning strategy in Florida, so we kept moving her up into regional and national leadership roles, and is certainly a member in good standing of our Trump 2016 alumni group today.”
Since 2016, Karen Giorno has built her political consulting practice, Kingston Public Affairs, for midterm races in Florida and across the country. In this role, she’s guiding candidates on how to organize the Trump coalition in their congressional districts and states.
She also currently serves as the senior advisor to the MAGA Coalition, “a national network of over 5,000,000 America First citizens who share in the belief that both our national parties have taken America down the wrong path.”
But not everyone is happy with Giorno’s recent run in the Trump inner-circle. Her networking and ability to rally the base of “Deplorables” have some competitors and rivals in the GOP targeting her with inner-party disputes and attacks on political blogs. Instead of uniting and concentrating their efforts on the opposing Democrat Party, they’re still trying to take down President Trump’s most loyal supporters.
Nonetheless, Giorno counts many influential Florida leaders among her closest allies. They share her zeal as advocates for President Donald Trump and his successful agenda, which is creating ten of thousands of jobs for Floridians and pay raises for hard working families.
“Being a pro-Trump radio and TV host, I’ve been subjected to backlash from the GOP establishment,” says John Cardillo, who works in Florida politics. “I’ve watched Karen Giorno face those same threats with dignity and grit. The knives have been out for her and many of us ever since 2016,” he adds.
Brian Ballard, a Trump strategist and Florida political heavyweight, said “I’m a fan of Karen’s. She was essential to implementing our winning strategy in the 2016 election in Florida and she’s had a positive effect for the President before and after he took office.”
“Karen Giorno was absolutely among those instrumental in making this happen,” says Karen Vaughn, a Gold Star mother, bestselling author, and Republican strategist in Florida who spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
In discussing her role as a leading campaign advisor for GOP candidates in the midterm elections and beyond, Florida GOP Vice Chairman Barnett said, “Karen is what the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) needs to ensure victories in 2018 for our statewide candidates and in 2020 for President Trump’s reelection.”
With the support of so many GOP leaders backing her up, Karen Giorno is confident that President Trump’s winning formula from 2016 will enable the Trump movement to deliver victory in the 2018 midterms and ultimately in his reelection in 2020.
Karen Giorno is marching ahead to support pro-Trump candidates and carry on a winning tradition, building coalitions of Trump loyalists who are all committed more than ever to Make America Great Again.
