Ashley Judd Tweets She Won't Run For U.S. Senate

Actress Ashley Judd will not seek the Democratic nomination for Senate in Kentucky next year and challenge Republican Mitch McConnell, she announced Wednesday.

Using her Twitter account to end months of speculation, Judd wrote: "Regretfully, I am currently unable to consider a campaign for the Senate."

Judd's potential candidacy as a liberal Democrat against the conservative Senate minority leader had been taken seriously enough that she was the target of a superPAC ad poking fun at her connections to states other than Kentucky, although she traces her roots in the state back generations.

Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Kentucky secretary of state, is expected to be among the Democrats seeking the Senate seat. McConnell will be seeking election to a sixth term next year.