--- description: Clay Aiken is leading the Democratic primary in North Carolina's 2nd district, but only by 369 votes. title: 'American Idol' Star Clay Aiken May Have Won a North Carolina Primary image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1c0167ae3fad5f1/69868e6a810bbb6374c9173f/clay-aiken-2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [States](/tag/states/) ## States Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 'American Idol' Star Clay Aiken May Have Won a North Carolina Primary by [Michelle Arrouas](/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 8, 2014 9:22 AM CUT  Clay Aiken speaks to supporters during an election night watch party in Holly Springs, N.C., May 6, 2014. Clay Aiken speaks to supporters during an election night watch party in Holly Springs, N.C., May 6, 2014.Gerry Broome—AP by [Michelle Arrouas](/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 8, 2014 9:22 AM CUT Former _American Idol_ star Clay Aiken appears to have [won](http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-clay-aiken-north-carolina-congress-20140507-story.html "undefined") the Democratic primary in North Carolina, but the election is so close that it’s still too early to call a winner. Clay Aiken, who’s running for House of Representatives in the state’s 2nd district, is ahead of his competitor Keith Crisco with 369 votes, the [tally](http://enr.ncsbe.gov/ElectionResults/ "undefined") from the Board of Elections shows. While that lands the former singing star just above the threshold of the 40% that candidates must clear to avoid a runoff, it is not enough for him to declare victory, as provisional, absentee and military absentee ballots are still being tallied. The last votes will be counted Monday. Keith Crisco issued a statement Wednesday saying that he isn’t ready to concede yet. “This election is still very tight,” he [wrote](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/05/07/clay-aiken-leads-but-n-c-primary-too-close-to-call-ap-says/ "undefined") in the statement according to _Washington Post_. “I want the elections officials to have an opportunity to tally the votes and provide a report … to allow all the campaigns a chance to see the final numbers.” Whatever candidate wins the election will face an uphill battle in the general election this fall, as the right-leaning district has a history of sending Republican candidates to Congress. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/91875/clay-aiken-congress-win-north-carolina/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/91875/clay-aiken-congress-win-north-carolina/"},"headline":"'American Idol' Star Clay Aiken May Have Won a North Carolina Primary","datePublished":"2014-05-08T09:22:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:43:02.010Z","description":"Former American Idol Clay Aiken holds a slim lead in the Democratic primary in North Carolina's 2nd district as the final ballots are counted","url":"https://time.com/91875/clay-aiken-congress-win-north-carolina/","keywords":["States","republicans","Congress","U.S.","House of Representatives","Election","democrat","American Idol"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1c0167ae3fad5f1/69868e6a810bbb6374c9173f/clay-aiken-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Arrouas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1c0167ae3fad5f1/69868e6a810bbb6374c9173f/clay-aiken-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Clay Aiken speaks to supporters during an election night watch party in Holly Springs, N.C., May 6, 2014.","caption":"Clay Aiken speaks to supporters during an election night watch party in Holly Springs, N.C., May 6, 2014.","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/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/states/","name":"States"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/91875/clay-aiken-congress-win-north-carolina/","name":"'American Idol' Star Clay Aiken May Have Won a North Carolina Primary"}}]}] ```