‘American Idol’ star Clay Aiken is running for Congress
By Nick Levine
American Idol
star Clay Aiken has announced he is running for Congress.
Aiken will attempt to unseat the Republican Party’s Representative Renee Ellmers in North Carolina’s second congressional district – but first he faces at least two other candidates in the Democratic primary.
Aiken, 35, formally launched his bid for Congress in a video message uploaded to YouTube earlier today (February 5).
“I’m not a politician. I don’t ever want to be one, ” he says in the video. “But I do want to help bring back — at least to my corner of North Carolina — the idea someone can go to Washington to represent all the people, whether they voted for you or not.”
Aiken finished second on American Idol in 2003 and has gone on to release five studio albums. He came out as gay in 2008.
Aiken’s bid for Congress had been rumoured for several weeks and in a recent radio interview, USA Today reports, Ellmers dismissed his chances by alluding to his failure to win American Idol.
“As we know, he doesn’t always fare that well. He was runner-up,” she said.
[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J58wZnC7EFs[/youtube]