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FILE – Clay Aiken performs at the “American Idol” farewell season finale in Los Angeles on April 7, 2016. The former “American Idol” runner-up announced on Monday that he’s running for Congress again in North Carolina, this time seeking to succeed the retiring U.S. Rep. David Price. In 2014, Aiken won the Democratic nomination for a largely rural central congressional district in 2014, edging former state Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco. But he lost in the general election to then-Republican incumbent Renee Ellmers, receiving 41% of the vote.
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FILE – Clay Aiken appears at the opening night of “Misery” on Broadway in New York on Nov. 15, 2015. The former “American Idol” runner-up announced on Monday that he’s running for Congress again in North Carolina, this time seeking to succeed the retiring U.S. Rep. David Price. In 2014, Aiken won the Democratic nomination for a largely rural central congressional district in 2014, edging former state Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco. But he lost in the general election to then-Republican incumbent Renee Ellmers, receiving 41% of the vote.
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FILE – Candidates in the 2nd Congressional District race, Clay Aiken, right, and Renee Ellmers, leave the stage after a debate at the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, N.C. on Oct. 6, 2014. Aiken, who lost the election to Ellmers, announced he is running for Congress again, this time seeking to succeed the retiring U.S. Rep. David Price.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Former “American Idol” runner-up Clay Aiken announced Monday he’s running for Congress again in North Carolina, this time seeking to succeed the retiring U.S. Rep. David Price.
In a video announcing his bid in the 6th District, Aiken said he’s joining the already crowded field for the Democratic primary, which has been delayed from March to mid-May due to litigation.
Aiken, 43, has had a career in music, theater and reality shows — in addition to political and social activism — since finishing second to Ruben Studdard on the TV singing contest in 2003.
“Hey, folks. It’s been awhile. Now, I know I look a little different these days, but we’ve met before,” he says in the video.
Aiken won the Democratic nomination for a largely rural central congressional district in 2014, edging former state Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco. But he lost in the general election to then-Republican incumbent Renee Ellmers, receiving 41% of the vote.
While that district was comfortably Republican, the proposed 6th District that Aiken is running in is overwhelmingly Democratic. It includes all of Orange and Durham counties — home to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, and very affluent western Wake County.
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