--- title: Clay Aiken Holds Slim Lead in North Carolina Democratic Primary description: The 'American Idol' runner-up is ahead by just 372 votes canonical: https://time.com/90682/clay-aiken-north-carolina/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-07T13:21:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:09:27.787Z article:section: Politics og:title: Clay Aiken Holds Slim Lead in North Carolina Democratic Primary og:description: The 'American Idol' runner-up is ahead by just 372 votes og:url: https://time.com/90682/clay-aiken-north-carolina/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt846dbc33ca391aea/69868e31cd684814ba09483e/nc-congress_dock.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4458 og:image:height: 2508 og:image:alt: Clay Aiken og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Clay Aiken Holds Slim Lead in North Carolina Democratic Primary twitter:description: The 'American Idol' runner-up is ahead by just 372 votes twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt846dbc33ca391aea/69868e31cd684814ba09483e/nc-congress_dock.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Clay Aiken Holds Slim Lead in North Carolina Democratic Primary > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 7, 2014 1:21 PM UTC  Clay Aiken speaks to supporters during an election night watch party in Holly Springs, N.C., Tuesday, May 6, 2014. Clay Aiken speaks to supporters during an election night watch party in Holly Springs, N.C., Tuesday, May 6, 2014. Gerry Broome—AP  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 7, 2014 1:21 PM UTC Former _American Idol_ contestant Clay Aiken was ahead in the North Carolina Democratic congressional primary by a slim margin Wednesday morning. The former singer led his opponent, former state Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco, by only 372 votes with all precincts reporting, making the race too close to call according to the Associated Press. As things stand, Aiken has the 40 percent necessary to win, but has been unable to declare victory. Aiken and Crisco both hold 40 percent on the vote. Whoever wins will face incumbent Republican U.S. Renee Ellmers in November. Ellmers won by a wide margin in 2010 when she was elected during the Tea Party wave. \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/primary-featuring-clay-aiken-too-close-call)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/90682/clay-aiken-north-carolina/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/90682/clay-aiken-north-carolina/"},"headline":"Clay Aiken Holds Slim Lead in North Carolina Democratic Primary","datePublished":"2014-05-07T13:21:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:09:27.787Z","description":"The American Idol runner-up is ahead by just 372 votes, with all precincts reporting, but the race has still not been called","url":"https://time.com/90682/clay-aiken-north-carolina/","keywords":["2014 elections","Newsfeed","Congress","North Carolina","celebrity"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt846dbc33ca391aea/69868e31cd684814ba09483e/nc-congress_dock.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt846dbc33ca391aea/69868e31cd684814ba09483e/nc-congress_dock.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Clay Aiken","caption":"Clay Aiken","creditText":"Gerry Broome—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2014-elections/","name":"2014 elections"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/90682/clay-aiken-north-carolina/","name":"Clay Aiken Holds Slim Lead in North Carolina Democratic Primary"}}]}] ```