Former Idol and Out Gay Candidate Clay Aiken Wins Dem.Primary

                                                                           

In a squeaker, singer and reality show contestant Clay Aiken appears to have won the Democratic primary for the U.S. House of Representatives from his native North Carolina and will face off against the two-term Republican incumbent Rep. Renee Ellmers in November.

Aiken, who grew up in Raleigh, rose to fame on “American Idol," and landed on the cover of People magazine when he came out as gay in 2008, fended off two opponents, a former state Commerce secretary considered the Establishment candidate (he only trailed Aiken by less than 400 votes) and a licensed family counselor who had previously run for the nomination.

Campaigning on a platform of job creation and adult education retraining programs, Aiken earned the support of labor, teacher and civil justice PACs, according to the News & Observer of Raleigh. But the 2nd Congressional District, which takes in the suburbs southwest of Raleigh, Fayetteville, home to Fort Bragg, and a wide swath of rural central North Carolina, was drawn to favor Republicans — in her primary, Ellmers earned almost the same number of votes as Aiken and his closest opponent combined.

Source: WSJ

Earlier in the day:

Former "American Idol" runner-up Clay Aiken held a slight edge over textile entrepreneur Keith Crisco in a congressional primary election Wednesday, with officials working to count every last ballot before declaring a winner.

There were less than 400 votes separating the Democratic Party candidates in the Republican-leaning 2nd Congressional District. The winner faces Republican incumbent Renee Ellmers — who was first elected in the tea party wave of 2010 — in November.

Both Aiken and Crisco, once the state's top business recruiter under Gov. Beverly Perdue, have cast themselves as centrists. Both will have to overcome the district's strong bloc of evangelical Christian voters who tend to vote Republican. Aiken has said previously that he doesn't believe the fact he is gay will affect whether people vote for him.

The state elections board on Wednesday showed the latest unofficial results giving Aiken the 40 percent of the tally that he needs to avoid a runoff election in July and a margin big enough that Crisco can't request a recount.

Aiken was carefully watching the numbers, spokeswoman Tucker Middleton said.

"It's close, but we're confident," she said.

But almost 400 absentee ballots issued had not been returned, according to data provided Wednesday by the state elections board. Absentee ballots and provisional ballots — those cast by voters who may not be properly registered — won't be tallied until Tuesday, state elections board spokesman Josh Lawson said.

It was not yet clear how many provisional ballots were pending a decision on whether they were properly cast, he said.

Crisco planned to wait until at least Thursday to consider a next step, spokesman Aaron Fiedler said in an email.

"This election is still very tight," Crisco said in a statement.