“I’m not a politician,” says Clay Aiken in the video announcing his candidacy for a U.S. House seat. “I don’t ever want to be one. But I do want to help bring back, at least to my corner of North Carolina, the idea that someone can go to Washington to represent all the people, whether they voted for you or not.”
What is very clear in the compelling, nearly five-minute video released Wednesday, is that Aiken seriously wants to be the Democrat on the fall ballot facing Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers in North Carolina’s 2nd District. And though an Aiken win in the conservative district has to be considered a long shot, and he hasn’t even made it past the primary, the 35-year-old reintroducing himself and making his case wants you to know that he’s more than an “American Idol” runner-up.
