Ex-CIA officer running for Congress in NC

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Most eyes may be on the presidential race but one man is jumping into a local race that's already turning heads.

Channel 9 has learned a former CIA officer will officially launch his campaign for Congress Thursday.

George Rouco is gunning for the seat that U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., currently holds.
 
Pittenger's in his second term and if he wants to win a third he'll have to fend off competition in his own party.
 
Ruoco, a Republican, may not have the usual political experience of a man who's running for Congress but his story runs deep.

He is the son of immigrants who fled Cuba in the height of Fidel Castro's Communist regime his family eventually came to Charlotte.
 
He graduated from East Mecklenburg High School and went on to be a CIA officer.

"I think the incumbent is part of the problem," Ruoco said. "I think over the last four years, you've seen there hasn't been any change."
 
He enters the race as the FBI has launched a probe into Pittenger's former business. It is unclear why the federal probe is underway.
 
Rouco filed to run before that news was released.

"It has nothing to do (with) the incumbent's current situation," Rouco said. "It has everything to do with my passion to serve."

Pittenger, who's currently overseas with a congressional task force to investigate terrorism financing, released a statement to Channel 9. 
 
"America is a great country!" Pittenger said in the statement about the challenge from his party.

He addressed the FBI investigation in the statement, as well.

"I have lived a life of integrity and am certain the government has the proper answers to their request for information," Pittenger said.
 
The challenge to Pittenger will likely be an uphill battle for Rouco with little long-term damage to the GOP, political analyst Michael Bitzer said.

"The party, right now, is so fractured anyway that there's going to be different voices within the Republican Party and this is probably one of those voices," Bitzer said.

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