Calm down, everyone: Ben Affleck isn’t running for the Senate.
The actor and director took to Facebook on Monday to refute rumors that he’d run for John Kerry’s seat should the senator, as expected, become the next Secretary of State. Here’s what he said:
“I love Massachusetts and our political process, but I am not running for office. Right now it’s a privilege to spend my time working with Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI), supporting our veterans, drawing attention to the great many who go hungry in the U.S. everyday and using filmmaking to entertain and foster discussion about issues like our relationship to Iran. We are about to get a great Secretary of State and there are some phenomenal candidates in Massachusetts for his Senate seat. I look forward to an amazing campaign.”
Although Affleck didn’t start the rumors himself, he didn’t exactly stop them in an interview aired Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” The “Argo” director, who founded the humanitarian aid nonprofit East Congo Initiative, said he had a “great fondness” for the “political process in this country,” adding that he was “happy being involved from the outside in government.” Hence, apparently, the Christmas Eve Facebook denial.
Now that Affleck’s weighed in, speculation can return to former Sen. Scott Brown’s prospects against any Democratic candidate.
