Let us paint you a picture.
It's New Years Eve 2020. The world is closing in on the final moments of, what some may consider, the most chaotic year of our time. Mother Nature is brewing up a Wisconsin blizzard while Cody and Karlee Horlacher are deep in conversation, sipping hot chocolate at their kitchen table.
Karlee and Cody realized through their recap of the previous 365 days just how many people were entering 2021 with a pent-up need to have their voices heard in the political realm. After discussing it further with their friend and neighbor Nik, who'd been supporting candidates for years, there just seemed to be no easy "on-ramp" for someone looking to get involved as an elected official.
Thus, Campaign Tutors was born.
Nik serves as an elected official for the State of Wisconsin - a position he was sworn into after over a decade of supporting other individuals in gaining electoral success. He also is active in leadership within several national, state and regional political organizations specializing in grassroots organizing, event planning, and marketing with an effective track record of electing individuals to local, state, and national office.
Nik’s campaign experience first started during his senior year of high school where he helped start a political club to get students involved in local campaigns through making phone calls, parades, and door knocking. He took this passion to college where he started and led collegiate chapters of a national youth political organization at both the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Waukesha and UW-Milwaukee, leading efforts to organize volunteers to knock doors and make phone calls to assist candidates. Nik dug deeper into his love of grassroots politics upon graduation by getting appointed to his local county party board and getting his first job at the Wisconsin State Capitol as a legislative staffer. He rose through the ranks until becoming a Chief of Staff for a Senator in the Wisconsin State Senate.
Drawing upon his background, Nik also climbed the ranks of his local county party until he was part of the leadership team. After elected officials in his area had suffered years of declining voter turnout and many losing their races all together, combined with many individuals wanting to get involved in local offices but having no idea where to even start, Nik knew a new direction needed to be chartered. He built and ran a campaign apparatus to get local candidates on the ballot and across the finish line in Wisconsin’s Spring elections. He also worked to identify key voting demographics needed to dramatically increase voter turnout for state Assembly and Senate candidates in our state’s Fall elections. These initiatives found huge success and was largely accomplished by returning to the critical basics of making direct connections to voters in their communities. Much of these strategies and tips can be found in our Get Elected Framework™, allowing you to access the same platform of success for your run for office.
With over a decade of political experience, you can feel confident in Nik’s ability to guide you through the campaign trenches to get onto the path to victory!
Email Nik
"Hi Karlee! I don't need any lemonade today, but I support young entrepreneurs like yourself!"
As a young 7-year-old running her own lemonade stand, Karlee didn't know what the word "entrepreneur" meant at the time, but her neighbor's quote still stands out in her mind. Karlee was young, but she knew that her constant yearning for success and life fulfillment was found in sales and healthy competition.
Throughout college at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Karlee competed on an international level at numerous professional selling competitions across the country. She graduated with dual Bachelor degrees in Journalism- Broadcast/Print/Web and Marketing- Professional Sales.
Karlee is a top-performing Sr. Sales Specialist in the building industry, where she outfits government barracks, hospitals, and universities with high-quality washroom systems- she has even sold material to a medical center at the North Pole!
Karlee met her husband, Cody, in 2014 at a pancake breakfast, where Cody was preparing for his first election in state office. Their pride and joy lies in their three children, William (4) and Hollie (3), and Hank (1).
Emeritus Founding Member
Cody serves as an elected official for the State of Wisconsin - serving in various position since his first campaign in 2014 - on top of running his own solo practice law firm focusing on clients' unique estate planning and business needs.
Cody’s experience in campaigning dates back to high school where he first cut his teeth on every local race he could help out on. Staying involved and campaigning for others throughout college and law school, Cody decided to seize the opportunity to run for State Office after graduating from law school, realizing his dream of representing his neighbors and peers in Madison.
While Cody was in a three-way primary facing two well-established community members with vast amounts of elected experience at the local level, Cody put together a game plan, much of what is provided in our Get Elected Framework™ to win 57% in the three-way primary to go on and win the general election. Cody also managed to do this without having the benefit of a large personal net worth.
Politics is a team sport and Cody found his MVP teammate in Karlee on his original campaign in ’14 of all things, at a campaign event- a pancake breakfast fundraiser after a 5k at a local High School. Cody attributes his political success to the strong support network he’s found in Karlee and their family. Family and friends mean everything to him and he knows there are plenty of other people out there like him, they just need a road map to get where they are supposed to be!
Now as a Circuit Court Judge, please note he has left Campaign Tutors and has an honorary Emeritus status as an initial founding member. Thank you Cody for all your contributions to the team!