Matthew McConaughey Opens Up About Running For Governor Of Texas
For some time now, Matthew McConaughey has been teasing a run for governor in Texas. In May 2021, when appearing on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," he told guest hosts Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood that, "It's something I'm trying to look in the eye and give honest consideration. What an awesome privilege, an awesome responsibility, awesome position of sacrifice and service," (via KXAN).
A poll from The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler even found that 45% of people would vote for McConaughey — known for his work in films like "Dallas Buyers Club," "Magic Mike," and "The Wolf of Wall Street" (via IMDb) — over Governor Greg Abbott.
"I think I've got some gifts as a leader. I think I've got some gifts as a learner and a listener and a teacher," he said on DeGeneres' show, as reported by KXAN. "What's my category, though? Where am I most useful to the most amount of people and to myself and my family?"
Matthew McConaughey called politics a 'fixed game'
On Thursday, October 7, 2021, Matthew McConaughey discussed the topic of running for governor on Sway, The New York Times Opinion's podcast. "Is that a place to make real change, or is it a place where, right now, it's a fixed game, you go in there, you just put on a bunch of band-aids, in four years you walk out, and they rip them off, and you're gone? I'm not interested in that," he said of running for public office.
The actor went on to say that politics is a "broken business." "One side I'm arguing is 'McConaughey, exactly, that's why you need to go get in there.' The other side is 'that's a bag of rats, man. Don't touch that with a 10-foot pole," he said, pointing at the juxtaposition that inevitably comes with holding public office.
As noted by Chron, McConaughey shared that he believes both the country and the state of Texas aren't in the best of places right now. "It's not going to happen by a policy. It's going to have to be a personal choice that more of us are going to have to make on our own and that, collectively, will build the army that's going to get us out of this not to just survive but thrive," he said of the current state of politics in the United States. Will the famed actor run? Time will certainly tell.