“American Idol” star Clay Aiken brought national attention to a packed congressional race in the Triangle after visiting ABC’s “The View” Wednesday morning to talk about his own bid for public office.
The Democratic candidate’s 10-minute interview included his thoughts on former President Donald Trump, Tuesday’s ruling on the political gerrymandering of North Carolina’s congressional maps and what it means to Aiken to potentially be the first openly gay person to be elected to Congress from the South.
“I’m proud of that,” Aiken said. “But it is surprising to me how underrepresented LGBT people are in Congress still, and I am thrilled to just even think about the possibility that we could add more to them and to do so from a Southern state.”
Aiken announced his plan Monday to run in North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District. The district encompasses Durham and Orange counties plus parts of western Wake County, including Apex, Morrisville, most of Cary and a sliver of Raleigh. He’s one of at least eight people hoping to win the Democratic nomination on May 17.
Aiken was questioned during Wednesday’s show about his lack of experience and how that stacks up against two of his opponents, state Sens. Valerie Foushee and Wiley Nickel.
“What is experience, right?” Aiken answered. “The people in Congress have lots of political experience and we see what the hell has happened there.
“That’s one thing, but I also think that Congress, the House, is set up to represent a whole bunch of different views, and experience isn’t just politics, and coming back to that, then it’s kind of not a selling point for a lot of people.”
This is Aiken’s second congressional campaign. He ran against former Rep. Renee Ellmers and lost. Aiken said on Wednesday’s show his purpose in running in 2014 was to point out “unfair” gerrymandering, and that issue has already popped up in the 2022 election.
Friendship with McCain
Aiken hadn’t appeared on “The View” yet before the race had already fired up one of the show’s former hosts, Meghan McCain.
The Republican considers Aiken among her closest friends and retweeted his social media announcement Monday, celebrating his run and their friendship.
One of Aiken’s opponents, Nida Allam, retweeted McCain’s message and called out Aiken for being supported by a Republican.
“Clay and I are polar opposites politically,” McCain clapped back. “We disagree on almost everything except our friendship. The worst part of the rot in DC is politicians not being able to be civil and have relationships to work with the other side.”
McCain told Allam, a Durham County commissioner, to grow up and allow her to congratulate her friend.
Criticism of Trump, Cawthorn
Aiken told “The View” hosts that one of the determining factors for his run was that his friends from New York and Los Angeles cite controversial figures from North Carolina, like U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn and Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, as reasons they’re uncomfortable visiting the state.
“It pisses me off,” Aiken said. “It just really upsets me that our state has become represented by these people who don’t represent me.”
Aiken took shots at Cawthorn’s support for Trump, calling Trump an evil narcissistic sycophant who “kisses the butts” of anyone willing to help him succeed and said that Cawthorn is following suit.
Democrats’ appeal
Aiken said politicians need to stop fighting with each other and fighting on cable news, and start working together to get things done.
Aiken’s chosen district does not have an incumbent after Rep. David Price, a Democrat, announced his retirement. Price has served in Congress since 1997, with an additional four terms between 1987 and 1995.
Asked on the show about the number of Democrats retiring, Aiken said the party needs to work on its brand, start appealing to rural voters and remind them of the policies that Democrats believe in that are beneficial there, too.
His announcement made the 6th Congressional District the most left-leaning area of North Carolina without an incumbent, which almost ensures the winner of the Democratic primary also wins the general election.
While Aiken has set his sights on the Durham-centric district, everything encompassing North Carolina’s primary remains fluid as the newly drawn congressional district maps are being challenged in the courts.
On Tuesday, a three-judge panel ruled that North Carolina’s state lawmakers politically gerrymandered the 14 congressional districts in favor of Republicans. The maps include 10 Republican districts, three Democratic districts and one whose voters just barely lean Democrat.
Despite that finding, the judges determined that the maps were legal and North Carolina’s election could operate as planned, though their decision is being appealed.
Filing by candidates is currently scheduled to begin Feb. 24.
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