Ashley Judd’s Senate run is much more than just an actress looking to boost her celebrity, Kentucky Democrats say — she has a good chance of winning.
Though Judd hasn’t officially announced her Senate intentions yet, Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth has begun pushing the idea of the actress running for Senate. Yarmuth, who has become Judd’s biggest in-state supporter, told ABC News , “I would be surprised if she doesn’t run at this point.”
Yarmuth said it appears Ashley Judd wants a Senate run, and that she is “certainly acting like a candidate, a potential candidate.”
“I think in her own mind … she has made a decision to run and she’s doing the right thing and not ruffling any feathers along the way,” Yarmuth said.
For Ashley Judd, a Senate run would certainly be against long odds. There is only one Democrat from Kentucky in Congress — Yarmuth — and she would be facing the established and politically powerful Mitch McConnell.
Yarmuth said he still likes Judd’s odds.
“I think the contrast would be so marked and I think it will be someone with a vision for the future and someone so stuck in a rut in the past that he no longer represents the future of the commonwealth,” Yarmuth said.
A recent poll seems to suggest that Judd could have a chance against McConnell. In December, Public Policy Polling released a survey ranking McConnell as the least popular senator in the country.
Judd seems to have other people believing. Kentucky governor Steve Beshear said he has talked to the 44-year-old actress, and thinks she would be a formidable opponent to McConnell.
“I think she would be a very serious candidate,” he told the Courier Journal .
If Ashley Judd were elected to Senate, she would not be the only member of the Hollywood elite in its ranks. Former Saturday Night Live writer Al Franken was elected to represent Minnesota in 2006.
