Clay Aiken, an American Idol runner up, is going to run for Congress in his home state of North Carolina.

Clay Aiken To Run For Congress

Aiken, 35, plans to use his rags-to-riches life story as a launching point for a campaign where he’d be hoping to oust Rep. Renee Elmers, and defeat likely Democratic candidates former state commerce secretary Keith Crisco and licensed professional counsel Toni Morris.

“In some ways this is where my life really began, on the floor of a living room in a small North Carolina home, where my mother and I only had each other. And she protected me, not only from my father, but from as many harsh realities as she could. And more often that not, she'd distract me with music,” Aiken, a single father, says in his campaign video.

Though Aiken doesn’t have any political experience, he’s not claiming to be a politician. "I'm not a politician—I don't ever want to be one," Aiken admits. "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. And maybe we can play a small part in igniting that change across the rest of our country. This is why I'm running for Congress. And in the weeks and months ahead, I'll need your help. We can all be like that friend who took my mother and me in, a friend who shelters those in their time of need, and who helps open a door to a new life and a renewed country for all of our people."

In addition to his successful music career, Aiken has spent much of his time since his American Idol days teaching and working with UNICEF, focusing on his passion for making the world better through education.

“The years I spent as a special education teacher for students with autism was my first window into the difference a person can make in someone's life. Then it was the years I spent with UNICEF, traveling to places of heartbreak, like the war zones of Afghanistan and Somalia, where families had been torn apart and hope was sometimes hard to find,” Aiken said. “I'm a Democrat, but it's when I was appointed by President Bush to serve on a special presidential commission to address the educational challenges of children with special needs, that was when I first realized that our problems won't be solved by only one party or the other. Instead, it's going to require all of us."

– Chelsea Regan

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