Odd People And Parties Who Never Should Have Run For Political Office

Clay Aiken Is More Than An American Idol Runner-Up

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Clay Aiken is best known as the runner-up to Ruben Studdard on American Idol in 2002. The show was good to Aiken, leading to a very lucrative Broadway career. In fact, in 2010 it was reported he made $1.5 million from his music and stage appearances. In 2014 Aiken took his career to a much larger stage.

Running as a member of the Democratic party, Clay Aiken ran for North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District. His platform was based on equal rights for the LGBT community. Winning the race by 400 votes, Aiken became the Democratic nominee in the general election. Unfortunately, he lost to Republican candidate Renee Elmers in the general election. We told you he was really good at placing second!