WASHINGTON -- Actress Ashley Judd is fueling more speculation that she will run for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky with two public appearances in the nation's capital Friday and Saturday.

Judd is scheduled to be the featured speaker Friday at a forum on women's reproductive rights and is slated to receive an award Saturday night for her humanitarian work in India.

Such high-profile events are keeping the media spotlight on Judd, who is considering a bid against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. And that spotlight has elevated the race -- which is more than 20 months away -- to marquee status.

Judd has said she will make a decision on whether to run sometime before the May 4 Kentucky Derby.

The actress had no comment in advance of her Washington appearances, according to her publicist. McConnell's campaign declined to comment as well.

But U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., said he is convinced Judd is going to enter the race.

"I don't think you do what she's doing now unless you're pretty damn sure you're going to run," he said.

Trey Grayson, the former Kentucky secretary of state who ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in the GOP primary in 2010, said the signs are there for a Judd candidacy.

"She's doing the calling around" to state Democrats, said Grayson, now director of Harvard University's Institute of Politics. "It strikes me she has made up her mind."

Jennifer Duffy, senior analyst with the non-partisan Cook Political Report, said all eyes in the Republican and Democratic Parties are on Kentucky. "In Senate-land, it's the story," she said.

McConnell, first elected to the Senate in 1984, is seeking his sixth term next year.

Judd recently met with potential donors in Louisville and reportedly has huddled with officials at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is expected to make McConnell one of its prime targets in 2014.

But Judd lives in Tennessee, has no campaign committee and hasn't raised a dollar for the contest.

Even so, she already has been the target of two ads, one produced by McConnell's campaign, the other by GOP strategist Karl Rove's American Crossroads Super PAC.

A Courier-Journal poll in late January found that just 17 percent of those surveyed said they would definitely vote for McConnell, while a third said they were definitely voting for someone else.

A poll in early February, conducted by Harper Polling and RunSwitch PR, where one of the partners is a former McConnell aide, found the senator would have a 49-40 percent lead over Judd.

Yarmuth, who has been touting a Judd candidacy, said "she's doing the right things. ... She's acting like a candidate, as far as I'm concerned."

She even lent her voice to critics of a tweet this week from Progress Kentucky, a liberal Super PAC, that suggested the Chinese roots of McConnell's wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, influenced his positions on trade with China.

Under fire for making a racially insensitive comment, the group later apologized.

Judd, who has 163,000 followers on Twitter, tweeted: "Whatever the intention, whatever the venue, whomever the person, attacks or comments on anyone's ethnicity are wrong & patently unacceptable."

Duffy, the analyst with the Cook Political Report, said she has seen similar build-ups for celebrities in other elections.

"She's making all the right noises, but that doesn't mean anything," Duffy said. "We've seen lots of people, especially celebrity types, who make lots of noise and then end up not running."

In Massachusetts, actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have been the focus of speculation about possible political careers, though both have batted down such talk. In Colorado, former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway was viewed for a time as a potential Senate candidate.

And Donald Trump shook the Republican presidential primaries briefly last year as he talked about entering -- but ultimately stayed out. Trump has complained that the ads taken out against Judd have served only to heighten her visibility.

Grayson said Judd appears to be serious. As for viability in a race against McConnell, "Kentucky is a pretty red state," he said.

But he also cautioned that there are different types of viability. Organizational ability, fundraising prowess, personal talents as a campaigner and a compelling personal story all are important factors in a successful candidacy, Grayson said.

Meanwhile, some Kentucky Democrats are uneasy about the prospect of Judd as a Senate candidate.

Democratic strategist Dale Emmons said he has spoken to many Democrats across Kentucky who are worried that local and state party candidates on the ballot with Judd would be in peril.

A Democratic challenger to McConnell has to make the race about the senator, not about that challenger, Emmons said. And the Democratic candidate needs to fit well into the state's political culture, he added.

"This is one place where we have conservative Democrats," Emmons said.