Matthew McConaughey has said he is considering running for political office, three years after he seriously considered a run to be Texas governor.
The Magic Mike and Dallas Buyers Club star, 56, appeared on a panel at the National Governors Association in Salt Lake City this week, alongside both Democrats and Republicans.
When asked if he was actively considering running for elected office, he replied (via Politico): “Yes, I have thought about running for office, getting into this category.”
“I’m on a learning tour and have been for probably the last six years of understanding what this category means.”
“Do I have the instincts and intellect that it would be a good fit for me and I would be a good fit for it,” he added. “You know, would I be useful?”
He later expanded on the challenge of moving from the entertainment world to politics. “My industry has to watch its tongue out of the gate because it’s coming from the left.”
“We have to open that conversation with our opening statements and not invalidate a moderate or conservative at the gate, which we’re guilty of, to an extent.”
The actor gave serious consideration to running for Texas governor in 2021. He spent several months contacting influential people in the state’s political circles as part of a potential campaign, and found himself leading in some rounds of polling for the role.
Eventually, he decided not to enter himself formally into the race. “As a simple kid born in the little town of Uvalde, Texas, it never occurred to me that I would one day be considered for political leadership,” he said.
“It’s a humbling and inspiring path to ponder. It is also a path that I’m choosing not to take at this moment.”
He added that he would “continue to work and invest the bounty I have by supporting entrepreneurs, businesses and foundations that I believe are leaders, establishments that I believe are creating pathways for people to succeed in life, organisations that have a mission to serve and build trust while also generating prosperity. That’s the American dream.”
A few months later, he spoke about his frustration with the current state of party politics in the US.
The actor attributed a “loss of values” within “people on both sides of the aisle” to intense rivalry between Democrats and Republicans in the US, arguing that “their whole identities almost sometimes seems to be based on the invalidation of the other, instead of the validation of their own vision.”
“Now I know, and I think we all know that, in the long run, that’s not the way forward,” he added.
In other McConaughey news, he recently revealed that he nearly quit acting in the 2000s, at a time when he felt he was becoming trapped in the romcom cycle.
“I had long talks with my wife about needing to find a new vocation,” he said. “‘I think I’m going to teach high school classes. I think I’m going to study to be a conductor. I think I’m going to go be a wildlife guide.’ I honestly thought, ‘I stepped out of Hollywood. I got out of my lane.’ The lane Hollywood said I should stay in, and Hollywood’s like, ‘Well, fuck you, dude. You should have stayed in your lane. Later.’”
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