Kentucky: Actress Ashley Judd Still Hedging on Senate Run
Actress Ashley Judd said Sunday that she is still praying on her decision about whether to challenge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in 2014.
When CQ Roll Call caught up with Judd at the EMILY’s List inauguration brunch, she said she is spending a lot of time considering the run for public office. Recent news reports have indicated Judd is ramping up her exploratory efforts, and she attended the Kentucky State Society’s Bluegrass Ball on Saturday night.
Before now, she said, she would get annoyed when people would “hem and haw” when asked whether they were planning on running for office.
“When people are considering running, they hedge,” she said. “I get that now.”
After staying late at the event and posing for photos, Judd hitched a ride with Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who knows a thing or two about running in a highly competitive and nationally watched Senate race.
Judd, who lives in Tennessee but is a native of Kentucky, said there is a lot to consider, but so far she is enjoying the process of making the decision. Judd has strong ties to EMILY’s List, which seeks to elect Democratic women who support abortion rights to public office. If she does run, it would no doubt be with the heavy support of the powerful political group.
“I’ve traveled all over the world,” she told CQ Roll Call. “There are no people that have captured my heart, and that I am more dedicated to, than the people of Kentucky.”
Not even her family knows which way she’ll fall on the sSnate question. Judd said she lives next door to her mother, singer Naomi Judd.
“We see each other every day,” Judd said. “And she’ll ask me: ‘Did you decide?’ My mother is so sweet. She basically said, ‘Tell me when you decide and I’ll turn the car port into a field office.”