Kara DioGuardi's Dad Announces Run For U.S. Senate

Joseph DioGuardi throws in hat for NY's Senate seat from Grand Central Station.

Kara DioGuardi is a massive topic in the news this week, and her star has never shone brighter. Not only has she spilled that her American Idol bikini stunt was the best thing she ever did for her career, but her father, Joseph DioGuardi, has just announced that he'll run for U.S. Senate.

Joseph DioGuardi made the announcement Tuesday from New York's Grand Central Station that he'll run for Kristen Gillibrand's seat in U.S. Senate as a Republican. Joseph DioGuardi is a former U.S. Congressman who represented two of New York City's suburbs in the 1980's before being defeated by Democrat Nita Lowley.

It's reported that DioGuardi, 69, is known to be a fiscal conservative. He worked under George Bush's administration in the 1980's and is the founder of a non-profit organization that purports to expose truths that Congress allegedly keeps hidden. DioGuardi lives in the New York City suburb of Ossining, New York with his wife Shirely, a writer and activist. Joseph DioGuardi's first wife (Kara DioGuardi's mother), died in 1997 after a seven-year battle with ovarian cancer.

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