Following rumors that she may test the waters for a Senate run in 2014, the mother of prominent Kentucky Wildcats college basketball fan Ashley Judd said on Thursday that her daughter has still yet to decide if she wants to challenge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Naomi Judd spoke in an interview with Ora TV and said that he daughter was still unsure about making the bid for a Senate seat.
"OK, here's the deal. As of right now, she doesn't know," Judd's mom, a country singer, told Larry King in a web interview published on Ora TV Monday. "I can tell you she's very interested in changing the world. And she knows that politics unfortunately right now is one of the ways she could do that. But I made her promise that if she should make a decision, that I'm the first to know."
Judd is a political activist who works with many different causes and supported President Barack Obama over the past two presidential elections. McConnell is a stalwart in Kentucky politics, but has been one of the biggest impediments to progress in the U.S. Congress in recent years.
In an internal poll by Republican firm Voter/Consumer Research, Judd trailed McConnell by four points. The details were not released to the public, but a memo of the results was provided to news organizations like Politico and The Washington Post.
Weeks ago another poll was taken by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling that had the same results. When that poll was released, McConnell's campaign manager, Jesse Benton mocked it, saying: "It speaks volumes that even a liberal Democrat pollster with an agenda to make Mitch McConnell look bad still can't find an opponent who can lead him in Kentucky."
According to Politico, "The poll found voters like Judd much less when they learn that she lives in Tennessee and Scotland, her grandmother referred to her as a "Hollywood liberal" and she has suggested it is wrong to breed given widespread poverty in regions around the world."
The survey showed that voters found Judd less likeable when the found out information that she lives in Tennessee and Ireland and that she has taken views against certain forms of coal extraction.
The rumblings about Judd originally started earlier in December after news came out that she spoke with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and with Democratic pollsters about a possible run in 2014. It gained more traction when Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky) brought the idea out in the open. According to USA Today, he said: Judd is "doing all the things that a serious candidate exploring a race should do."
Judd released a statement late last year addressing the rumors, saying:
"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 said, according to the Huffington Post.
Judd's options for Congress would be to run against Mitch McConnell, who is one of 13 Republicans up for re-election in 2014, or wait until 2016 to take on Rand Paul, who is the freshman Senator for the state.
Paul was quoted on the radio last year saying that Judd would not be able to hold the state considering she is known as a liberal.
"She's way damn too liberal for our country, for our state," Sen. Rand Paul said to the radio station WMAL. "She hates our biggest industry, which is coal. I say, good luck bringing the 'I hate coal' message to Kentucky."
Democrats have been weary to challenge McConnell in recent years because he is very popular in the state. He is Kentucky's longest-serving senator and won re-election in 2008 for a fifth term in Congress.
While Judd currently lives in Tennessee, she would likely move back to Kentucky to re-establish residence if she wants to run for the Senate seat. She also resides part of the year in Scotland.
"I heard she lives in Scotland, I thought she was running for Parliament," Paul said. "I think she'd fit right in the English parliament. ... She's got to get back and forth between Scotland to campaign, and they don't have the Concorde anymore."
Judd is one of the most famous sports fans in the country and has been a prominent supporter of the Kentucky Wildcats for many years and can frequently be seen in the stands at games. She was a part of the celebration of Kentucky's 1998 national championship and cheered on the team when they defeated Kansas last season to win their first title under coach John Calipari last year.
Originally born in California, Judd grew up in Ashland and attended the University of Kentucky, where she received a degree in French. She also did graduate work at the Harvard where she received a Mid-Career Master in Public Administration degree in 2010. Judd has deep roots in Kentucky and can date back her family eight generations in the state. She has starred in numbers projects on film and television in her career, including "Kiss the Girls," "Double Jeopardy," "High Crimes" and the television series "Missing."
She is married to IndyCar driver Dario Franchitti, who has won the Indianapolis 500 three times
Judd has been involved in political activities and humanitarian work for many years, including being a global ambassador for YouthAIDS and traveling around the world to help children in countries in Africa.
She also supported President Barack Obama for re-election and has been involved in work with numerous women's rights groups, including the Women for Women International, and Equality Now.
"I'm voting for Barack Obama because he embodies American values and because he has a policy and vision that actually works for regenerating our middle class and growing it from the middle class out instead of from the top down and proposing the same failed policies that got us into economic collapse in the first place," Judd said in an interview with the Daily Beast before the election.
According to USA Today, Judd "was a Tennessee delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. She even announced the state's votes for President Obama in Charlotte as the president was formally nominated as the party's standard bearer."
Judd has a well-known family of country singers, including her mother Naomi and her half-sister Wynonna. Her grandmother also made some comments about the idea of Judd running for Congress.
"I don't think there's any possibility of that happening," said Polly Judd, the 85-year-old grandmother of Ashley and her singer sister, Wynonna, according to the Associated Press. "I think Mitch has done more for Ashland than anybody else who has been in there. That means a lot. He's been here personally, and we don't always get that from politicians who represent us."
If Judd did decide to throw her hat in the race, it would not be the first time someone from Hollywood tried to get into politics. Former SNL writer Al Franken was elected to the Senate in Minnesota in the 2008 election after defeating incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman.
"She's a Hollywood liberal," Polly Judd said of her granddaughter. "It would be interesting to see what type of race she would run."
If Judd did run, she would shake up the race in Kentucky and put a prominent Democratic face on the mid-term elections. While the Republicans have been quick to point out that Judd is unqualified or out of touch, it might just be because they are afraid to run against her due to name recognition and her stances on certain issues.
While she has taken stances against certain aspects of coal production, Judd could use that to create an alternative voice within the state that is looking out for the interests of everyone rather than just a select group. Kentucky is historically a Republican state, but Judd is an intelligent and well-spoken public figure that could rally a lot of people around her.
