Raj Bhakta

Upbringing and education

Born to an Indian father and Irish mother, Bhakta moved from Northeast Philadelphia's Oxford Circle to Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, where he grew up. After graduating from The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in 1994, Raj Bhakta earned bachelor's degrees from Boston College in 1998 in Economics and History with a concentration in Finance.

Business background

Bhakta began his career working at the investment banking firm of Violy & Co. in New York City. Bhakta went on to found Automovia, a technology firm for the valuation of pre-owned vehicles. Thereafter, he led the Apex Vail condominium development project in Vail, Colorado.

The Apprentice

In the fall of 2004, Bhakta appeared on the second season of the business-oriented reality television show, The Apprentice. On the show, Bhakta propositioned Anna Kournikova and Donald Trump's assistant to go out with him on dates, and was fired by Trump on the ninth week of the show. His relationships with women became fodder for gossip columns such as New York Post's Page Six, and his frequent wearing of bow ties was credited with a surge in bow tie sales.

Political engagement and commentary

After appearing on The Apprentice, Bhakta advocated Social Security reform in meetings with Congressional leadership. Bhakta was also a guest on MSNBC and Fox News and appeared on CNN's Crossfire.

2006 Congressional campaign

With the support of Tom Ellis, the Republican chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, he sought and won the Republican nomination for the 13th congressional district. In the general election, Bhakta lost to incumbent Democrat Allyson Schwartz by more thirty percentage points. Bhakta's campaign generated significant national media attention as a consequence of Bhakta's background on The Apprentice, his attention-getting campaign maneuvers, and his reputation as a playboy.

Bhakta's judgment and fitness to lead were called into question as a result of his having been arrested twice, in 1997 and 2004, for drunk driving. After reports of the arrests surfaced during the campaign, Bhakta said "I ask for the forgiveness and understanding of the voters, while giving them my solemn pledge that this behavior will not happen again", and said "Politicians today need to come clean". Bhakta's campaign also took place amidst an anti-GOP tide fueled by the unpopular presidency of George W. Bush, an unpopular war in Iraq, and a slowing economy.

Bhakta made law and order a focus of his campaign in Northeast Philadelphia. Bhakta promised more police on the streets, halting or eliminating Section 8 housing subsidies, and using Homeland Security funds for crime prevention. Bhakta also blamed Mayor John Street for not hiring more police officers in the face of increasing murder rates in the city.

Bhakta often criticized Schwartz for refusing to debate during the campaign. Bhakta initially challenged Schwartz to twelve debates, six in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and six in Northeast Philadelphia as well as on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The Northeast Times, a local newspaper, offered to host debates. However, Schwartz did not accept any debate invitations.

On October 10, 2006, Bhakta illustrated the ease of crossing the United States-Mexico border by riding an elephant along the border for ninety minutes, accompanied by a six-man mariachi band. Neither Bhakta nor the mariachi band broke the law by crossing the border, as they remained on private property along the Rio Grande in Texas. Bhakta said that he got the idea by seeing a Mexican man illegally cross the border by wading across the Rio Grande. Bhakta had a camera to record the man's illegal crossing, and succeeded in getting the man detained by border authorities. The demonstration garnered national attention for Bhakta's campaign. Bhakta was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly, Rita Cosby, Glenn Beck, and John Gibson. "This is not about the poor Mexican immigrant who wants to come for a better life that's the real problem here," Bhakta said. He added, "The border security is a joke and this is a creative and very effective way of showing it."

On November 7, 2006, the Philadelphia Daily News reported that Bhakta's campaign made "stunning" automated campaign calls to homes in Northeast Philadelphia and Montgomery County detailing the charges in 18 lawsuits against an abortion clinic founded by Schwartz.

GoAmericaGo

After the Congressional race, Bhakta traveled widely in Asia – a trip he credited with reaffirming his concern with challenges facing America's long-term global position as the world's foremost economic power. An ad-supported website called "Whom You Know" said "Raj feels that the United States is losing its preeminence more quickly than most realize, requiring urgent economic and diplomatic reforms." To that end, he started a blog called GoAmericaGo.

WhistlePig whisky

Bhakta founded the WhistlePig brand of rye whiskey, which was initially launched as a non-distiller producer that bottled Canadian whisky from the Alberta Premium distillery owned by Fortune Brands (Jim Beam) in Alberta, Canada. Starting in 2007, he purchased land in Vermont on which he built a new distillery and aging facility for the brand. The brand was launched on the market in 2010. It currently includes expressions aged 10, 12, 14, and 15 years, and an expression called "Farmstock" with no age statement. The Farmstock expression is produced at the new distillery in Vermont, while the others are bottlings of products distilled elsewhere.