Next Tuesday, former Westchester Rep. Joe DioGuardi will make his challenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand official.

DioGuardi will have a formal campaign kick-off at Grand Central Terminal, entering a race for the Republican nomination which already includes Bruce Blakeman and David Malpass (and has former George W. Bush advisor Dan Senor circling).

DioGuardi served two terms in Congress before being ousted by current

Rep. Nita Lowey in 1988. He has been mulling a run for months, but began this week to inform local activists that he would jump in the race, ready to return to Washington.

“They need me back there to fix this mess,” DioGuardi said. “It’s a winnable race. We just need the right messenger and I’m the right messenger.”

DioGuardi has become a favorite of local Tea Party and conservative activists in the Hudson Valley.

DioGuardi was the first Certified Public Accountant elected to Congress. Since his defeat, he has been an advocate for Albanians living in the war-torn republics of the Balkans and founded the non-profit organization Truth in Government, which is devoted to exposing and limiting Congressional spending.

DioGuardi says this will be the primary focus of his campaign.

“We are spending money we don’t have and borrowing money from countries we don’t trust,” he said.