Ashley Judd's Senate bid: Over before it begins?

Democrats appear to be reconsidering whether the liberal movie star is the best candidate to run against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

Ashley Judd
(Image credit: AP Photo/Ralph Lauer)

Last week, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was reportedly ready to fully support actress Ashley Judd if she decided to run against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Now, the group is "re-evaluating" its enthusiasm, according to Kentucky's Louisville Eccentric Observer, after a poll the group commissioned found that another candidate would have a better shot at winning.

Indeed, now some Democrats worry that Judd, a political neophyte, could cost the party a winnable race against a high-profile GOP incumbent. The poll suggested that another Democrat, Kentucky Secretary of State Allison Lundergan Grimes, would be a stronger challenger against McConnell. Some Bluegrass state Democrats worry that Judd's liberal politics and connections to President Obama might prove toxic in a state where 60 percent of voters backed Mitt Romney in 2012.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.