Ashley Judd announced on Twitter yesterday that she wouldn’t challenge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for his Senate seat in 2014.
At 4:09 she tweeted: “After serious and thorough contemplation, I realize that my responsibilities and energy at this time need to be focused on my family.”
And a minute later: “Regretfully, I am currently unable to consider a campaign for the Senate. I have spoken to so many Kentuckians over these last few months.”
It seems a number of Kentucky Democrats were worried her staunchly liberal views - such as strongly condemning the practice of mountaintop removal mining - would be too difficult to overcome in rural parts of the state where the coal industry has a dominant presence.
Apparently, Judd was not afraid to tackle McConnell, 71, who is seeking his sixth term in the Senate.
“I have been raped twice, so I think I can handle Mitch McConnell,” she apparently said at a private dinner in February, The Huffington Post reported.
Finally she tweeted to her supporters: “Thank you for the outpouring of good wishes. Thanks for having so much confidence both in me & that we could work together.”
She also tweeted that her full statement would soon be on her website, and she added: “Please know that is my voice and truth; don't fool with the distortions!”
You can read the thread of her tweets on her website at http://ashleyjudd.com/
And on twitter, https://twitter.com/AshleyJudd.
No word on what family her energy needs to be focused on although if it is one of the famous ones – her sister Wynonna Judd is currently on “Dancing With the Stars” and her mother is Naomi Judd – we’ll read about it soon.
Ashley Judd is now appearing in the White House-in-peril blockbuster “Olympus Has Fallen.” She plays First Lady and Aaron Eckhart, who plays the President, said of his co-star at a junket for the film I attend recently that, “She has a mind like you wouldn’t believe, just like jumping beans. She’s very intellectual and educated and likes to talk about a diverse range of topics.”