Clay Aiken

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Clay Aiken

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

May 17, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

University of North Carolina, Charlotte, 2003

Personal

Profession

Executive

Contact

Campaign website

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Clay Aiken (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent North Carolina's 4th Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary on May 17, 2022.

Biography

Clay Aiken earned a bachelor's degree in special education and teaching from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2003. Aiken's career experience includes working as a special educator, the president of Duraleigh Media, and a singer. He founded the National Inclusion Project and served as a goodwill ambassador with UNICEF USA and on the Presidential Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities under former President George W. Bush.

Elections

2022

See also: North Carolina's 4th Congressional District election, 2022

North Carolina's 4th Congressional District election, 2022 (May 17 Democratic primary)

North Carolina's 4th Congressional District election, 2022 (May 17 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House North Carolina District 4

Valerie Foushee defeated Courtney Geels in the general election for U.S. House North Carolina District 4 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Valerie Foushee (D)	66.9	194,983
		Courtney Geels (R)	33.1	96,442

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 291,425
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 4

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 4 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Valerie Foushee	46.1	40,806
		Nida Allam	37.0	32,731
		Clay Aiken	7.4	6,529
		Ashley Ward	5.4	4,767
		Richard Watkins	1.3	1,155
		Crystal Cavalier	1.3	1,116
		Stephen J. Valentine	1.2	1,023
	Submit photo	Matt Grooms	0.5	435

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 88,562
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 4

Courtney Geels defeated Robert Thomas in the Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 4 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Courtney Geels	64.5	19,645
		Robert Thomas	35.5	10,793

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 30,438
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• John Szoka (R)
• Rene Borghese (R)
• Nat Robertson (R)
• Craig Kinsey (R)
• Erik Fredsell (R)

2014

See also: North Carolina's 2nd Congressional District elections, 2014

Aiken ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. House to represent North Carolina's 2nd District. He lost to incumbent Renee Ellmers (R) in the general election on November 4, 2014. Aiken won the Democratic nomination in the primary on May 6, 2014. The general election took place on November 4, 2014.

U.S. House, North Carolina District 2 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Renee Ellmers Incumbent	58.8%	122,128
	Democratic	Clay Aiken	41.2%	85,479
Total Votes				207,607
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections

U.S. House, North Carolina District 2 Democratic Primary, 2014

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Clay Aiken	40.9%	11,678
Keith Crisco, Sr.	39.5%	11,288
Toni Morris	19.6%	5,616
Total Votes		28,582
Source: Results via the North Carolina State Board of Elections

• Six days after the primary, with the results still too close to call, Keith Crisco, Sr. passed away in his home. Crisco had been waiting for the final vote totals and had not conceded the race.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Clay Aiken did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign website

Aiken's campaign website stated the following:

“	...to support families America must modernize its social policies. With the demands of a 21st century economy and the reality working families face, the fact is, too many Americans are forced to make difficult decisions between raising a child or caring for their family and their livelihoods. To support North Carolina families, Clay will use his voice to: Improve educational outcomes while simultaneously making it easier for parents to work, by funding and providing pre-K and afterschool programs for all children Support the well-being of America’s children and work to eliminate child poverty by supporting the Family Security Act that would permanently provide a $250/month cash benefit to every school-aged child in America and a $350/month cash benefit to each child under 6 years of age, and allow parents to begin receiving the benefit up to 4 months prior to the birth of a child Update the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to broaden the definition of “family” to include domestic partners, siblings, and grandparents to reflect the multigenerational makeup of more American families Increase the Capital Magnet Fund to leverage federal money to boost levels of affordable housing availability and dramatically increase the amount of funding available for the Housing Choice Voucher Program ...to empower workers The stock market isn’t the only indicator of a strong economy. In America today we still have far too many people who are unable to find a job where they can support themselves and their family. That’s why investing in our workforce, lowering inflation, and creating opportunities for good-paying jobs is a top priority. To empower North Carolina’s workers, Clay will: Increase the national minimum wage to $15/hour and index it for inflation Strengthen Social Security and make payroll taxes more fair by immediately removing the cap on taxable earnings Extend the Earned Income Tax Credit for an additional year for workers without children Put an end to predatory, “payday” lenders (and simultaneously rescue the floundering USPS) by re-establishing postal banking services nationwide Modernize the National Labor Relations Act and provide adequate funding and resources to crack down on corporations who use illegal tactics to prevent workers from unionizing Eliminate tax loopholes and subsidies that reward companies who outsource jobs overseas Restructure the tax code to demand that corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share by closing loopholes on carried interest and increasing the tax rate on incomes over $400k a year ...to educate students It still holds true that education is one of the best investments that can be made. But today, American investment in primary and secondary education is failing to set our students up for success, and the cost of higher education is unattainable for many and overly burdensome for almost all. To fulfill our promise to better educate North Carolina’s students, Clay will fight to: Lower the cost of higher education by reinvesting in our universities, providing interest free student loans, and helping students burdened with crushing student loan debt Make community college free for all and support students who choose to attend trade schools by heavily investing in those programs to create more avenues to the skills based careers that are in high demand around the country Use tax incentives to reward employers who create apprenticeship programs that help train skilled workers for well paying careers Increase funding for Title I and restructure the current legislation to incentivize and reward school districts that diversify schools Create a national paraprofessional program to provide states and school districts with increased funding for teacher assistants and to provide education and pathways for those paraprofessionals to transition into teaching positions ...to defend rights Americans enjoy freedoms that citizens of other countries envy, but our nation’s past is filled with too many acts of racism, misogyny and bigotry; and our present is still healing from the scars. We are taught that America was founded on the principle of equality and opportunity, but for too many – especially women, Black, brown, and LGBT Americans – those promises remain unfulfilled. We must act to protect the lives and the liberties of ALL people, not just the privileged. To protect North Carolinian’s rights, Clay will speak up to: Pass the Equality Act and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity Protect our democracy and ensure that no American is restricted or inhibited from our most sacred right to vote by passing HR.1, the “For the People Act” and expanding the Voting Rights Act to require preclearance of changes to election laws in all 50 states Codify Roe vs Wade and Planned Parenthood vs Casey into federal law to guarantee women the right to make private and personal decisions about their own bodies Protect against abusive and deadly over-policing by demilitarizing police forces, banning no-knock warrants, ending “qualified immunity” and making it easier to prosecute bad cops and prevent them from working in law enforcement by passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act into law ...to secure healthcare The United States has the most advanced medical treatments and research in the whole world. Yet, far too many Americans don’t have access to basic healthcare needs. We’ve become far too comfortable with this obvious failure. To secure healthcare for North Carolinians, Clay will use his voice to: Immediately close the Medicaid coverage gap to provide affordable healthcare to those living in states like North Carolina where legislators have allowed pettiness and politics to block the Americans most in need of access Reduce the cost of prescription drugs for all Americans by immediately changing the law to allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices Build a system that ensures free healthcare for all Americans by fighting for a single payer, Medicare-for-All national healthcare system ...to protect the planet Climate change is an existential threat that cannot continue to be ignored. The fact is, carbon neutral is both a necessity and the future of the global economy. The United States needs to lead it. To protect North Carolina’s environment and rescue the planet, Clay will speak up to: Win the economy of the future by investing in carbon neutral research and development, as well as skilled job training programs to train America’s workforce Increase existing renewable energy tax credits to speed the adoption of clean energy systems by businesses Prepare for a changing climate by rebuilding and creating more efficient and resilient infrastructure, creating thousands of good-paying jobs in the process Invest heavily in R&D with technology companies to digitize the energy industry and expand and stabilize the clean energy power grid ...to promote American innovation America needs to continue its role in the world as the defender of freedom and democracy. Congress should insist upon a diplomacy first approach and work with our allies to cooperate on the world stage and promote our shared values. To help promote democracy and strengthen America’s leadership role in the world, Clay will encourage Congress to: Create research and development partnerships with like-minded nations to collaborate on future innovation and set standards and norms for new technologies, like artificial intelligence, 5G, green energy storage, and cryptocurrencies Build and lead an international cybersecurity alliance with fellow democratic countries who are on the forefront of tech and innovation Support the responsible development of digital assets and maintain American leadership in this growing space Maintain robust funding for USAID to continue to provide development and civil assistance to developing nations and strengthen ties with the emerging democracies	”
—Clay Aiken's campaign website (2022)

Campaign finance summary

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Candidate

U.S. House North Carolina District 4

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Footnotes

[show]

North Carolina's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Ted Budd (R)

Thom Tillis (R)

Representatives

District 1

Donald Davis (D)

District 2

Deborah Ross (D)

District 3

Gregory Murphy (R)

District 4

Valerie Foushee (D)

District 5

Virginia Foxx (R)

District 6

Addison McDowell (R)

District 7

David Rouzer (R)

District 8

Mark Harris (R)

District 9

Richard Hudson (R)

District 10

Pat Harrigan (R)

District 11

Chuck Edwards (R)

District 12

Alma Adams (D)

District 13

Brad Knott (R)

District 14

Timothy Moore (R)

Republican Party (12)

Democratic Party (4)