Clay Aiken, an American Idol runner-up, announced plans for a second Congressional run on Monday. The North Carolina native is running for a U.S. House seat that includes part of Durham, Chapel Hill and his hometown Raleigh. Aiken, 43, previously ran for Congress in 2014.
“The people in the Triangle gave me the platform that I have, and I wanna use it to give back to them,” Aiken told the News & Observer, referring to the area that includes Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. “I want to be a loud voice for the Triangle when I get to Congress, I will tell you that. And we need a big voice.”
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The seat Aiken is hoping to win represents North Carolina’s sixth Congressional District, which includes Durham, Chapel Hill, most of Cary, and a small part of Raleigh. The final boundaries of the district haven’t been determined yet, pending court challenges to the new district map. Rep. David Prince, a Democrat, has represented the district since 1997 and announced his retirement in October.
Aiken has credited Prince as a mentor who helped him get interested in politics when he was in middle school. “It’s hard to wrap your head around what we’re losing with Congressman Price’s retirement,” Aiken told the News & Observer. “He’s delivered so much for the Triangle.”
Since the district is expected to elect a Democrat in November, many experienced local Democratic politicians have thrown their hat in the ring for the seat. Gary Pearce, a Democratic political consultant and aide to former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt, told the News & Observer he believes Aiken can use his character to stand out from a crowd of candidates with few policy differences. If Aiken wins the seat, he could be the first openly gay member of Congress from the South. He will first have to win the Democratic primary in May, though.
This run is also very different for Aiken than his first attempt to reach Congress. In 2014, he campaigned for a district that mostly covered conservative rural communities. Although he surprisingly won the Democratic primary, he lost in the general election to incumbent Republican Renee Ellmers.
If elected, Aiken hopes to take on climate change, systemic racism, gun violence, income inequality, and expand voting rights, abortion rights, and the health care system. “This is some basic stuff I’m talking about here,” Aiken told the News & Observer. “Basic things that should be done – stuff that must be done – a lot of stuff that could have been done already if politicians would get off of Twitter and get off their asses and actually do what we sent them there to do.”
