NC-02 2014 Tag

Former American Idol star Clay Aiken has officially announced his bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in the second district of North Carolina. The seat is currently held by Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers.  (Some may remember the videotaped message that Ellmers made in 2010 for readers of Legal Insurrection). In a video posted at his campaign website, Aiken talks about his background outside of just American Idol.  He recounts his personal story of childhood affected by domestic violence, and discusses his time teaching special education students, then going on to work with groups like UNICEF. Aiken claims he realized that people will need to work together to solve our problems. "I'm a Democrat," Aiken said on the video.  "But it was 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. But instead, it's going to require all of us." And then, Aiken promptly took aim at Ellmers.