Ashley Judd Senate Run Would Face Long Odds, Political Experts Say

Ashley Judd has floated the idea of a Senate run in 2014, but the noted Hollywood liberal would have a difficult path to election, political experts say.

Kentucky Democrats have been abuzz with news that actress and activist Ashley Judd could be considering a run in 2014, but so far Judd hasn’t committed to the idea of a run. Judd was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and has been a strong supporter of President Obama, but experts say those credential may not get her far in her native Kentucky.

For her part, Ashley Judd has been careful about her statement regarding a Senate run.

“I cherish Kentucky, heart and soul, and while I’m very honored by the consideration, we have just finished an election, so let’s focus on coming together to keep moving America’s families, and especially our kids, forward,” Judd told Us Weekly last month.

Judd is being taken seriously enough to warrant status as a possible Democratic nominee in Charlie Cook‘s Political Report website.

But if Judd does choose to run, she would have to go against Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, one of the highest-ranking Republicans in Washington.

Judd would certainly be able to attract attention and call on her Hollywood connections to raise money for a Senate run, but her prospects in the race would be dim, writes Peter Grier of the Christian Science Monitor. Though another Hollywood liberal won a Senate seat — Al Franken in Minnesota — the odds for Judd would be much different, he says.

Grier writes:

“First, it’s Kentucky, not Minnesota. It’s a Republican state. Mitt Romney took 61 percent of the vote there a month ago to Mr. Obama’s 38 percent. The aforementioned Charlie Cook Political Report already judges the 2014 Senate contest to “lean Republican.”

“One reason Judd’s name is coming up is because other prominent Kentucky Democrats don’t want to run and get beat.”

Ashley Judd would have other difficulties in a Senate run, like the fact that she and husband Dario Franchitti split time between a home in Tennessee and one in Scotland, a fact that may not play well in Kentucky.