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" I have a feeling she would have cleaned my clock."
Remember that time Ben Affleck almost ran for Congress?
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In 2018, there was an interest in the actor launching a congressional campaign to represent Massachusetts' 7th Congressional District.
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Looking back, Ben says that he's glad he didn't run — and is pretty certain current Rep. Ayanna Pressley would have totally beaten him.
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"People wanted me to run against [former Rep. Michael] Capuano in the, you know, the old Tip O'Neill district," Ben told the Boston Globe.
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He continued, "[Rep. Pressley] probably would have beat my [expletive], so I'm glad I didn't run. Even though she's from Ohio, I have a feeling she would have cleaned my clock."
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Ben noted that his decision not to run stemmed from his experience campaigning for John Kerry in 2004, when he learned more about the life of a congressperson.
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"I did a lot of campaigning for John Kerry, because I liked him; the Democratic National Convention was in Boston; I felt strongly about gay marriage; and I felt George Bush and the war in Iraq was wrong," Ben explained.
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He added, "But I didn't want to run for Congress. I looked at the life of people in Congress and it was a constant process of glad-handing, begging for money and being beholden to people. It's so depressing. I thought it was miserable and corrupt and ugly."
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Instead, Ben chose to start the Eastern Congo Initiative, an advocacy and grant-making nonprofit dedicated to creating a successful society in eastern Congo.
"We’ve given away $20 million to Congolese community-based organizations in one of the poorest places in the world and I’ve been there 15 times. That’s what I do," Ben concluded.
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