LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Ashley Judd, the Hollywood movie star and eighth-generation Kentuckian, has decided not to launch a star-studded campaign to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. 
 
 Judd made her announcement via Twitter Wednesday afternoon. 
 
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 Judd had been publicly and privately flirting with a bid for several months, reaching out to Louisville fundraisers, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington and a handful of top Democrats here, including Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, to express interest in a potential run against McConnell. 
 
 (WATCH: Crossroads ad mocks ‘radical’ Ashley Judd) 
 
 She also spoke with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this week, a person familiar with the call told POLITICO. 
 
 “After serious and thorough contemplation, I realize that my responsibilities & energy at this time need to be focused on my family,” Judd wrote on her Twitter page. 
 
 “Regretfully, I am currently unable to consider a campaign for the Senate. I have spoken to so many Kentuckians over these last few months ~ who expressed their desire for a fighter for the people & new leader,” she added. “While that won’t be me at this time, I will continue to work as ~ as hard as I can to ensure the needs of Kentucky families are met by returning this Senate seat to whom it rightfully belongs: the people & their needs, dreams, and great potential. Thanks for even considering me as that person & know how much I love our Commonwealth. Thank you!” 
 
 Judd was hamstrung by several factors: namely her continued residency in Tennessee and her lack of political experience let alone against a ruthless campaigner like McConnell. 
 
 (Quiz: Do you know Ashley Judd?) 
 
 Moreover, 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. They feared her candidacy would be too risky in a year when they believe McConnell is perhaps more vulnerable than he’s ever been in his nearly three decade Senate career. 
 
 According to a source close to Judd, Alison Lundergan Grimes’s interest in the race made her decision easier because it wouldn’t leave the Democrats without any prospects against McConnell. 
 
 In addition, Judd’s decision could change in the future — she’s been encouraged by the support and enthusiasm from Kentuckians and will continue to be active in politics. 
 
 Still, Judd’s decision will be viewed as a letdown to activists on the left and some Democrats here, including Rep. John Yarmuth, who argued that she would be able to energize the party, raise a flood of cash and give her a huge platform to take on McConnell and the millions of dollars in his campaign war chest. 
 
 (See also: Prominent Democrats wooing Alison Lundergan Grimes, not Ashley Judd) 
 
 Judd’s decision to skip a run is certain to put new pressure on the 34-year-old Grimes, the Kentucky secretary of state who has been mum about a possible run. Grimes is also weighing a possible run for attorney general or governor in 2015, and given her age, she may decide to run for the Senate seat when there’s a better chance of winning, whether it’s in 2016 against GOP Sen. Rand Paul or a later cycle, Democrats here say. 
 
 But with Judd out and if Grimes were to skip a bid, Democrats would have few options here in the Bluegrass State. They will search for a possible self-funder, similar to McConnell’s 2008 opponent, Bruce Lunsford, who lost by 6 points after a hard-fought campaign. And there are a crop of state legislators who may yet emerge, though they too would certainly be untested against McConnell and the political machine he’s built in the state. ||||| Democratic heavy hitters — including Bill Clinton — are quietly trying to woo a new candidate to jump into the race to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, even as actress Ashley Judd is taking steps toward launching a star-studded campaign of her own. 
 
 With fears growing in some Democratic quarters over Judd’s potential candidacy, some prominent Democrats in the Bluegrass State are beginning to set their sights on 34-year-old Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Kentucky secretary of state. Among Grimes’s attributes: She lacks political baggage since she’s served barely a year in office, and she hails from a well-connected family influential in Kentucky Democratic politics. But it’s not at all certain if she’ll jump into the race. 
 
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 Grimes does have the Clintons in her corner. Earlier this month, the former president — a longtime friend of Grimes’s father — privately urged the young secretary of state to mount a Senate bid while assuring Grimes that both he and his wife, Hillary, would get behind her should she decide to take on the powerful Senate GOP leader, according to several sources familiar with the matter. 
 
 (Quiz: Do you know Ashley Judd?) 
 
 Attending an event for former Kentucky Sen. Wendell Ford in Owensboro earlier this month, Clinton privately met with Grimes for about 35 minutes, where they discussed her political future. Sources said Clinton made the case that the Senate bid would offer a bigger platform than the governor’s mansion or the U.S. House race in the 6th Congressional District, covering Frankfort and Lexington, which the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had hoped she would pursue. 
 
 Grimes has also met with officials from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, according to Kentucky Democratic sources. Both the DSCC and Clinton’s office declined to comment. 
 
 The behind-the-scenes jockeying underscores the divide in Democratic quarters over taking on McConnell, the party’s biggest target in 2014, when control of the Senate is at stake. There is a palpable fear among some key Kentucky Democrats that if they nominate the wrong candidate — or engage in a messy primary battle — they will squander their best chance to defeat McConnell since his first Senate win in 1984. 
 
 (PHOTOS: Mitch McConnell’s career) 
 
 Some bluntly worry that Judd — an untested actress-turned-activist — would not be able to take down the McConnell machine while causing headaches for Democrats down the ticket because of her staunchly liberal politics in a conservative state. It’s a fear that McConnell’s allies are only too happy to reinforce. 
 
 “It’s my personal, professional judgment that [Judd] places others on the ballot in peril if some of the fears … come to fruition,” said Dale Emmons, a Kentucky Democratic campaign operative of more than two decades and a Grimes ally. “She places these people at risk by a weak performance on the ballot in this midterm election.”
– Ashley Judd can do drama, comedy, and action, but top Democrats are increasingly skeptical that she has the chops to play the junior senator from Kentucky. While Judd looks toward a run for Mitch McConnell's seat next year, party power brokers—including Bill Clinton—are trying to convince Kentucky secretary of state Alison Lundergan Grimes to run instead, reports Politico. McConnell's seat is top of the party's hit list for 2014. A Judd candidacy would guarantee the party both big headlines and fundraising dollars. But some are worried that a Hollywood liberal who currently lives in Tennessee won't play well to a Kentucky base. Grimes, a more established politician with strong family connections in the party, offers a far less controversial choice. But that's assuming Clinton and Co. can convince her to run at all. "Why would [Grimes] take on this race?” said a former McConnell chief of staff. “She could run for a state office with little opposition or run against McConnell and endure $30 million in career-ending advertising." Judd's big sister Wynonna, however, is predictably and firmly in her corner, telling Us Weekly, "Of course I'd vote for her!" Though maybe just because blood is thicker than water: "I don't agree with anything she says half the time. We're so different. But I love my sister. I am for Ashley."