Actor Matthew McConaughey has gotten increasingly into activism and political engagement in recent years – and now he may just run for office.
The Dallas Buyers Club actor, 56, recently appeared on a panel about reinserting civility into US politics alongside both Republican and Democratic leaders.
The panel took place at the National Governors Association 2024 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and in the midst of the discussion McConaughey was asked if he ever intended to channel his interest in politics into a campaign for public office.
He replied: ‘Yes. I have thought about running for office, getting into this category,’ he said to New Jersey governor Phil Murphy.
‘I’m on a learning tour and have been for probably the last six years of understanding what this category means,’ he said, according to Politico.
He went on to say that he’s been in the process of questioning whether he would be fit for a role as a political leader: ‘Do I have the instincts and intellect that it would be a good fit for me and I would be a good for it. You know, would I be useful?’
Murphy had previously made a comment in the midst of the panel about sampling mcConaughey’s Pantalones tequila, which lead the actor to continue: ‘I’m still on that learning tour, and, you know, days like this. I’m learning a lot.
‘Last night, I learned a lot. I learned a lot from you last night. Through those tequila, through that tequila, sir,’ he concluded, jokingly.
The Failure to Launch actor went on to discuss Hollywood’s role in shaping political discourse, acknowledging that people in his industry often invalidate and belittle more conservative viewpoints before hering them out.
He explained: ‘My industry has to watch its tongue out of the gate because it’s coming from the left.’
He continued: ‘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.’
Hawaii Governor Josh Green, a Democrat who was also on the panel, reacted positively to the idea of McConaughey running for office. He told the actor that he ought to avoid being overly partisan, but should instead be his ‘warm and likeable’ self, continuing: ‘Be you, because that might be something special for all of us.’
The Oscar-winning actor previously teased a run for the Governorship of his home state, Texas, back in 2020 after calling American politics a ‘broken business’ and saying: ‘I have some things to teach and share.’
Later in the panel, McConaughey reflected on the increasing polarisation in American politics, saying: ‘We seem to be in a bad situation right now.’ according to The Hill.
He continued: ‘The extreme seem to be going further left and further right. Decency doesn’t seem to be on the table. Rules of engagement seem like they need to be renegotiated, reestablished.’
He criticised the chaos of Trump era politics, saying that the government shouldn’t ‘look like an episode of Real Housewives.’
He continued: ‘I understand it’s hard to market and sell success in how people negotiate, because it’s not as fun, it’s not as sexy, it’s not as exciting as the car wreck. We’re a nation of rubberneckers.
‘I think right now we’re all caught up in short-term, short-money wins. And so we come to the table, we argue, we call each other names, and America sees a lot of us when we do that – This is entertainment. I’m in the entertainment business. Our leadership and our leaders don’t need to be in the entertainment business.’
While the actor has yet to officially confirm whether he will run for office, and if so for which position, his hints at a future run and continued engagement make his political candidacy an evergrowing possibility.
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