Aiken: Same-Sex Marriage Won’t Be Discussed Much In The Campaign

In this May 28, 2010 photo Clay Aiken is seen during an interview in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
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Newly declared Democratic congressional candidate Clay Aiken predicted Wednesday there’s at least one issue that won’t come up a lot in his campaign: same-sex marriage.

“I don’t think that’s an issue in this particular election. It is something that’s a settled issue in North Carolina. It’s not something that a congressman has anything to do with,” Aiken, who is gay, said in an interview with CNN.

Aiken formally jumped into the race for Rep. Renee Ellmers’ (R-NC) congressional seat earlier on Wednesday. Even before that, though, Ellmers had already begun sniping at Aiken, saying that someone who couldn’t even win American Idol couldn’t possibly beat her. Aiken finished second in American Idol in 2003.

In 2012, North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage only as between a man and a woman.

“My position on that’s obviously pretty clear but at the same time when I talk to people around the district, when I talk to people in this area the things that are on their minds are the economy, jobs, being able to put their kids through college, training for adults so that they can actually get new jobs, taking care of veterans — things in this district that take precedent over any issue like that,” Aiken added. “So I don’t know that that would necessarily be an issue that I would be discussing much in this campaign.”

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