McConaughey Showing No Signs
of Gov Race Beyond Rumination

Capitol Inside
October 9, 2021

Having teased Texans for months on a race for governor in 2022, Matthew McConaughey suggested this week that it would not be as a Democrat or Republican if he decides to run.

"Third party, centrist," McConaughey said when asked in an interview about the possible path to the top job in his native state. "I think it’s necessary to be aggressively centric to possibly salvage democracy in America right now."

But McConaughey sounded more like a movie star on a book tour than a serious potential political contender in freewheeling conversations with Scott Simon of NPR and Kate Swisher on the New York Times podcast Sway. The Oscar-winning actor gave the impression that he'd done nothing in the way of exploring for a gubernatorial bid beyond deep contemplation, discussions with mentors and a struggle to grasp the meaning of politics before embarking on such a quest.

McConaughey admitted that he'd have substantial homework to do on the actual issues if he takes aim at the position that Republican Governor Greg Abbott is seeking again in 2022. McConaughey expressed his disdain for the state's controversial abortion ban in Senate Bill 8 - saying he disagreed with the vigilante bounties and the six-week time line. But he declined to say what his position on abortion in general might be.

McConaughey told Swisher that he didn't know enough about the restrictive new Texas election law to have a credible opinion on it. "You know, I don’t know enough about that to be able to discuss the details on how I feel about that," he said. "I think it should be easier to vote.

I think everyone should, if you’re an American citizen, and you’re of age, and you don’t have your criminal record, that you should be able to vote. I think that it should be, as I said, accessible to go vote. You know, but their argument— what’s the G.O.P., Republicans’ argument right now, basically against that, what I just said?"

McConaughey described himself as a "folk-singing poet" and philosopher and backed it up with kumbaya-like slogans. "I think we're here to lead, not secede," McConaughey said during the NPR forum on Twitter Spaces on Thursday.

A Longview product who lives in Austin, McConaughey suggested that he would want to make a fundamental change in the political system.

"I’m working on what I’m trying to understand politics to be," McConaughey said on Sway. "I think we’ve got to redefine politics. If each party’s only about preservation of party, well, I’m almost arguing that’s undemocratic. If you’re only there to, by hook or by crook, preserve your party, you’re leaving out 50 percent of the people. So I think politics needs a redefining."

McConaughey gubernatorial visions have segued conveniently with the publication of his memoirs in the book Greenlights, which debuted at number one on the New York Times best seller list for non-fiction a year ago.