Is Richard Hudson, a former Hill chief of staff and now top contender for the GOP nomination in North Carolina’s 8th district, a “birther”?

It certainly sounds like it. At a county tea party forum on Tuesday, Hudson said there was still some ambiguity as to whether the president was a citizen of United States.

There is not.

Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, at 7:24 p.m. on August 4, 1961, making him a natural-born citizen of the United States.

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“There’s no question President Obama is hiding something on his citizenship,” Hudson said at the event, according to a video provided to Roll Call. “And if you elect me to Congress to represent you, I’ll introduce legislation that requires any candidate for president or vice president to be certified by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as being a citizen.”

“And whether that’s the birth certificate or whatever it means, that’ll make it really simple from now on, if you want to run for president you need to know that you’re going to have to prove you are a citizen. I think that’s good and simple,” he continued.

Reached today at his campaign office, Hudson stood by his comments.

“I think there’s a lot of people that think that he’s not a citizen. I don’t know,” Hudson said.

When reminded that Obama’s long-form birth certificate has been released and his citizenship is known, Hudson said he hadn’t personally seen the president’s birth certificate.

“In the future,” Hudson said, “let’s just set a standard that if you’re going to run, you have to have your citizenship certified in advance and then you won’t have all this lingering, you know, questions and conspiracy theories and so forth.”

“Personally, it’s not a pressing issue for me,” said Hudson, the former chief of staff to Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas).

Hudson appears to be the frontrunner for the GOP nomination in the reconfigured district currently represented by vulnerable Rep. Larry Kissell (D). He faces neurosurgeon John Whitley, dentist Scott Keadle, former Winston-Salem City Councilman Vernon Robinson and others in a crowded field. The primary election is scheduled for May 8.

Roll Call rates the race as Likely Republican.

Watch the video of Hudson (the comments about Obama begin at the 1:50 mark):

Watch video of the president responding to birthers: