Clay Aiken, American Idol finalist, lost his bid to represent North Carolina in Congress on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Clay Aiken Loses Race For Congress

Aiken ran as a Democrat in North Carolina’s second district against incumbent Republican Renee Ellmers, who won with 58.1% of the vote.

Ellmers was first elected to Congress in 2010, and was the favorite going into these midterm elections.

Aiken famously came in second during his season of American Idol, losing to Reuben Studdard, and people were quick to joke about his apparent trend of coming in second. Even Aiken himself joked about his well-known loss in his concession speech, saying, “The result did not go the way we wanted it to tonight, but we’ve walked down this path once or twice before. And, when, about eleven years ago, after American Idol, we came up short in another vote, we found reason to be happy, we found opportunity to see a win.”

Esquire Network Docuseries On Aiken's Campaign

Aiken may have lost the election, but he will star in a four-hour docuseries on Esquire Network from Simon Chinn and Jonathan Chinn, who have been following Aiken since he launched his campaign for Congress in February.

“We were granted incredible access during the making of this documentary, and in turn were able to capture the internal workings of an American campaign – the good, the bad and the ugly,” Simon said.

Esquire Network’s head of original programming, Matt Hanna, announced the series on Tuesday, saying, “Ultimately, this series is a raw and honest look at American politics through an incredibly unique and compelling candidate.”