AceShowbiz -

People can remove Ben Affleck from the list of Sen. John Kerry's potential successor. Following reports that he appears on the whish list to become a U.S. Senator if Kerry is appointed as the Secretary of State, the actor/director rules out the possiblity of him running for political office right now.

"I love Massachusetts and our political process, but I am not running for office," he says in a statement posted on his Facebook page on Monday, December 24. "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," the husband of Jennifer Garner adds, before wishing "Happy Holidays to All."

Previously, some people believed that Ben would run for Senate to replace Sen. John Kerry, who's expected to be the next Secretary of State replacing Hillary Clinton in a second-term Barack Obama administration. "Anyone that underestimates Ben's political ambition is a fool. He's very focused and smart," a source said.

The 40-year-old father of three himself played coy when asked about the matter during a December 19 taping of CBS' "Face the Nation". He said at the time, "One never knows. I'm not one to get into conjecture... It's a big deal for me to come down here and be on your show that I've watched so much, but I'm not going to get into speculation about my political future."