Goel couldn’t ward off image of negative campaigning.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Republican Congressional hopeful Manju Goel has lost the race to represent her party during this November’s election, to Larry Kaifesh, a former US Marine and first-time political candidate, in Illinois’ 8th District.
Goel, 48, came under controversy in recent days because of a website put up by Indian Americans for Congress, a Super Political Action Committee (PAC) that created the site to support Goel by attacking Kaifesh. The website, larrykaifesh4congress.com, was meant to look like a website in support of Goel’s opponent, but actually ended up attacking the candidate. The website was removed last week, and Kaifesh’s supporters called on Goel to drop out of the race because of allegations that she had orchestrated the entire thing, but she denied her involvement and stayed in the race.
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Now, it appears the controversy was too much for Goel to overcome. She was defeated by an overwhelming margin, with unofficial reports indicating that she only received 9,585 votes against Kaifesh’s whopping 24,001, with roughly 71.5% of the total ballots cast.
Kaifesh was a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, and will now represent the GOP in Illinois’ 8th Congressional District, going up against Democratic incumbent Tammy Duckworth, who is also an armed forces veteran, who served in Iraq.
As a Republican, Goel ran a campaign in strong opposition of Obamacare, vowing to do all she could to repeal the controversial healthcare legislation. On her website, she blames the Affordable Care Act for costing America billions of dollars in debt and countless jobs, as well. Her district has an Asian percentage of roughly 12%, which Goel was heavily leaning on to boost her through the Republican primary. This is despite the fact that, historically speaking, Asian minorities typically skew left, and the district itself has a very purple history.
Goel is “a self-employed consultant specializing in process control improvement,” with degrees in Applied Computer Science and Health Care Management. She emigrated from India at the age of 21, and has two college-aged children. She has not yet announced if she plans to run for Congress again.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com