Ashley Judd won’t run for Kentucky’s Senate seat, wants to focus on her family

Thank God!! Ashley Judd is NOT going to run for a Senate seat in 2014. Hallelujah! As you know, I’ve been keeping my eye on Ashley’s possible candidacy since the rumors began shortly after the 2012 election. Ashley, to her credit, seemed to be making all of the appropriate motions for a potential candidacy, meeting with the DNC, stopping short of forming an exploratory committee, and she was already being vetted by the party. Republicans seemed eager for Judd to run too – they were praying that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell would have to run against a divorced Hollywood type who mainly lives in Tennessee. Personally, I didn’t want Ashley to be the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer in Kentucky because I think she has mental health issues and I think her candidacy would have been a hot mess. But no more worries, she’s not running!

Ashley Judd’s campaign for Senate is over before it began. After months of speculation about her political ambitions — during which time she met with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington, D.C. — the Olympus Has Fallen actress took to Twitter on Wednesday, March 27, to officially announce that she would not, in fact, seek Republican Mitch McConnell’s seat in Kentucky next year.

“Dear Friends,” she wrote in the first of a series of tweets explaining her decision. “Thank you for these months of remarkable support & encouragement, for your voices, exhortations & prayers…Regretfully, I am currently unable to consider a campaign for the Senate.”

“I have spoken to many Kentuckians over these last few months who expressed their desire for a fighter for the people & new leader,” she went on. “While that won’t be me at this time, I will continue to work as hard as I can to ensure the needs of Kentucky families are met by returning this Senate seat to whom it rightfully belongs: the people & their needs, dreams, and great potential.”

The star — who ended her 10-year marriage to husband Dario Franchitti in January — suggested she had personal matters to tend to before she could devote herself completely to public concerns.

“After serious and thorough contemplation, I realize that my responsibilities & energy at this time need to be focused on my family,” she wrote.

Included in that family, of course, is sister Wynonna, who told Us Weekly recently that she would support Judd’s decision either way. “I’m going to love her and give her the love of a sister, which is what we all want. And give her the right to fail or succeed,” the singer said. “I’m going to support her and tell her if she needs shelter from the storm — oh, is she going to need shelter from the storm — I’m here.”

Wynonna even said she’d vote for her sister, even though she disagrees “with pretty much everything [Ashley] says.”

“I am for Ashley,” she told Us. “I am for Ashley because…I’ve seen enough movies to know that someday, we’re going to be 80 and 84 and I’m going to look back on our memories. And what am I going to remember the most? Whether she won or lost a campaign? Or am I going to remember that I was there in the wings applauding for her?”

[From Us Weekly]

See, now I’m actually excited about Ashley potentially being a power-broker behind-the-scenes. She can still raise a lot of money for the Democratic candidate, and she can do some events in Kentucky too, without getting the personal attacks she would have gotten if she was the candidate. Pundits were analyzing this last night on MSNBC, and the basic gist of the coverage is that Ashley’s withdrawal is no big deal for the Dems. Now the party gets to run someone who actually lives in Kentucky and they get to put the focus on McConnell, who isn’t even that popular in his state.

Photos courtesy of Adriana M. Barraza/WENN.com.

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35 Responses to “Ashley Judd won’t run for Kentucky’s Senate seat, wants to focus on her family”

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  1. Hannah says:

    Swollen language, much?

    • Joanna says:

      say what?

    • Happymom says:

      It’s her trademark. That’s one of the reasons her candidacy would have been so ridiculous. That and how feasible would it have been for her to hand her “quiet stones” to people when they were speaking to her.

      • ol cranky says:

        that is all I kept thinking form the moment this talk of her potential candidacy gathered steam. so glad she managed to keep her ego in check on this one

    • Bridge13 says:

      I know, right? She speaks this way often in an attempt to demonstrate her intelligence, I guess. But is comes across as so pretentious and pompous.

  2. Quinn Parker says:

    She used to be so pretty, back in the day. Another victim of the Hollywood plastic surgery machine.

    My latest pet peeve is the fact that 70% of Hollywood ladies past a certain age no longer have matching eyes…one eye tends to be way smaller than the other…what the hell causes that? Botox? Bad eye jobs? I really need an explanation on this.

    • Joanna says:

      I think it’s her false eyelashes that are making them look funny. if you look at the left side of the picture, the falsies are pointing up, making the one eye look bigger than the other.

    • Kaiser says:

      CB explained it to me once, I think it IS Botox. I think it’s called “lug eye” or something.

    • Amanda_SB says:

      Botox can be used to lift eyebrows and the side effects of Botox include hooded eyelids and “a droopy eye.”

      Also, most people have a dominant eye – one that is larger than the other. This is most notable when people with a dominant eye are tired (or so my opthamologist has told me). I always have had 1 eye that looks a bit “off.” My mom has the same thing.

      In Ashley’s case, I’d say it’s probably Botox or a combination of both. I’ve thought for a long time that she had unusually high eyebrows and have wondered if she’d had a brow lift. In these pictures she clearly has a “wonky” eye for some reason.

  3. bella says:

    i must be living under a rock because i am a huge fan and didn’t know she and her husband had split.

    i think that she would have made a fine candidate…she’s passionate, intelligent and has mass appeal.

    Kaiser – what mental health issues do you think she has? she’s on medication for a mood disorder i believe she’s shared…am i right?
    do her mental health issues go beyond that?

    • Kaiser says:

      I was trying to be tactful. I think she’s a total narcissist, an a–hole and if she had run, the campaign would have been all about HER history, not the politics.

      • Belle Epoch says:

        Could not agree more! People with mental health issues can successfully hold office, but she isn’t one of them. That whole explosion about misogyny and beauty and whatever was not actually a well considered position she has held for years – it was a temper tantrum because her face went out of control and suddenly the beauty business wasn’t working for HER. She never cared about misogyny when people picked on Wynonna.

      • bella says:

        oh, OK…i totally get that, Kaiser.
        you just can’t stand her, which is understandable.
        i feel that way about many people!

        but you don’t think she’s get true mental health issues…like she’s cray cray.

        you just think she’s a typical self absorbed, obnoxious “star” – right?

      • Kaiser says:

        Belle – sort of. Ashley would have been a significantly flawed candidate for many reasons, let’s just say that!

      • Amanda_SB says:

        Since I have already voiced my opinion on this more than once, I’ll just say that I’m glad she came to her senses, but I wouldn’t count her out for a future run. I see her shooting for a future in politics.

        Glad to see she is taking time to prioritize family, espcially with the recent divorce filing.

        Also, @Bella, Ashley has admitted to mental illness in the past. That was a point I previously raised in another post about her and wheher or not she would be able to handle the stress of a campaign or a career in politics. I wouldn’t be surprised if she would go after something more akin to an Ambassadorship, in which she would just be appointed and not have to endure a campaign.

      • tyson says:

        as someone who lives in kentucky and went to UK the same time ashley did, i can tell you that there is NO WAY she would have won. she has bashed coal and just the other day she pandered to louisville by saying she hope they won the ncaa championship. she is supposedly UK basketballs biggest fan. that may not sound like much, but it is a big deal here. she is crazy and it would have shown during the campaign.

  4. Lachica says:

    I can’t stand the way she over-reaches in her attempts to seem erudite.

    • Happymom says:

      This exactly. And it makes me stabby when people then turn around and describe this as “intelligent.” She’s just using big words, people. Ugh.

    • bella says:

      the thing is…i believe that she is truly intelligent and isn’t overreaching.
      i remember seeing an interview she gave years ago when she was very young and she was poised, intelligent and well-spoken.

      i do understand though how some may find the qualities i admire and think are genuine as total bullsh*t.

      • Flora Kitty says:

        +1

      • Bridget says:

        The problem isn’t the public face, but the private one. Behind the scenes, Ashley Judd is famous for treating people terribly, and for being… Unstable is a nice way to put it. Just do a cursory google search and you’ll have no problem coming up with stuff. We don’t ask that our candidates for office be perfect by any means, but for all her education and progressive views on some issues, Ashley Judd is pretty widely regarded as an awful person. You don’t put someone like that in a race with Mitch McConnel, she would get torn to shreds and it would be embarrassing in general for Kentucky Dems.

  5. L says:

    Can I just say Wynonna’s comments about being 80 and 84 and looking back at memories of applauding her little sister make me want to hug her and choked me up a little?

    For a woman who has her own fair share of issues-I found that to be touching (and made me think of my own sister)

  6. Sam says:

    I’m glad. She might have a future in fundraising or something like that, but she was simply a bad candidate to take on McConnell. He is a super-entrenched politician with lots of resources and friends, and he plays very dirty. Most of the Democratic establishment wasn’t behind her. The hope is that the Tea Party will primary McConnell and then a moderate Democrat can win. Judd just wasn’t a part of the plan.

    • Flora Kitty says:

      I hope so too, because if she was already sensitive to criticism, then she is too thin skinned to run against any Rethuglican (not just McConnell).

  7. lucy2 says:

    I didn’t think she had much of a chance. I’d like to see someone out of the box challenge McConnell though.

  8. BeesKnees says:

    McConell has the connections, money and power to absolutely tear hear apart during a campaign. Her divorce and mood disorder would have been speculated upon over and over by pundits. In my opinion, actors think they are qualified for politics because they are public figures. I’m sure they believe because of years in the spotlight and public scrutiny that they can handle a campaign, but politics is a dirty business. I think this was a smart choice on her part.

  9. tracking says:

    Wise decision. Doesn’t she need a dog to travel with her due to stress issues? I don’t see that playing well, but sure could have led to some funny comedic spoofs.

    • Happymom says:

      And she would hand “quiet stones” to people so they wouldn’t talk to her. That might be problematic during a campaign.

  10. Jen34 says:

    This was the best decision for her. She has too many issues.

  11. Shelly says:

    Thank God. She is a loser.

  12. Christin says:

    Wynonna’s comments about her sister confirm why she is the only Judd I halfway like or respect. I think there is a lot you can read between the lines in that statement from Wynonna. Ashley could learn a lot from her sister.

    Ashley probably just wanted to test the water, and thankfully she made the right decision. I don’t think she could have handled the scrutiny, and she would have been incredibly out of touch with the people she should be representing. I also wonder if she’s realizing she might want to hang on to Dario, IF he’ll continue to have her.

  13. MSMLNP says:

    Is she that mental that she has an imaginary family?
    She is a single woman, who is estranged from her biological family.

    She is one odd duck.

    • Redd says:

      Exactly. She is single. Her mother wants nothing to do with her. Wynonna just threw that bone out to her for appearances. Ashley has trash talked her sister to pieces.