Could Texas ever be led by Governor McConaughey?
Al Roker decided to crack the rumors on Friday TODAY, when he asked Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey if he was considering a possible run for governor in his home state. The next election for governor in Texas will be in 2022.
“Look, it’s a very honorable consideration,” said McConaughey. “So, am I considering this? Of course, it is a great and honorable thing to be able to consider.
“What I need to choose for myself is: I want to have a leadership role in the next chapter of my life. Now, in what role will I be most useful? I don’t know if this is a political position, or if I am as a free agent. It could be me as a free agent. So, this is something I’m working on personally and that’s what is my most useful position in a leadership role. “
McConaughey, 51, was born and raised in the Lone Star State, maintains a home there and graduated in 1993 from the University of Texas.
Nor would he be the first actor to try to be governor of state, as Arnold Schwarzenegger demonstrated by leading California in this 2003-11 role. Former President Ronald Reagan was an actor before he became governor of California in 1967, and professional fighter and “Predator” star Jesse Ventura was governor of Minnesota from 1999-2003.
Al found that McConaughey already had at least one anxious voter when he paid a visit to Jessie Norwood. The 93-year-old Texas woman met McConaughey years ago when he and his family distributed food from Meals on Wheels on Thanksgiving.
The woman McConaughey calls “a very, very bright light” has not seen him for more than a year because of the pandemic. Now that she was vaccinated, he and Al were able to pay a surprise visit to her TODAY, leading to an immediate question for their old friend.
“When are you going to run for governor?” she said.
“He asked me the same thing this morning!” McConaughey said about Al.
“I would vote for him!” Norwood said.
“I have a vote!” McConaughey replied.
Al was visiting the Dallas Buyers Club star at his Austin home on Friday because of an issue far more urgent than McConaughey’s political ambitions – helping those devastated by last month’s winter storm. Many residents were left with houses destroyed and flooded by pipes bursting and breaking due to weather conditions.
“It’s not like fires, tornadoes or hurricanes. You don’t drive down the street and you see the graphic problem on the street,” said McConaughey. “But come in through the front door of so many houses and businesses, now you are seeing all the water damage that needs to be fixed, you are seeing people who need clean water, but they don’t have it.
McConaughey and his wife, Camila Alves, are doing their part to help by conducting a virtual fundraiser called “We are Texas” at 8:00 pm EST on March 21 on McConaughey’s YouTube page.
The show and benefit already has a Texas-sized guest list with Chip and Joanna Gaines, Kelly Clarkson, Willie Nelson, the Jonas Brothers and Selena Gomez.
“Everyone I called, in the first two minutes, ‘I’m in, I’m in,'” he said. “I didn’t have to call anyone back. So Texas is really helping the people who are going to need it.”
McConaughey said he will be the presenter who will introduce the bands. He then made Al surprised when he said he could rap.
“I won’t be able to avoid it,” he said before laughing. “I’m going to have to rap somehow. I’m going to rhyme something. I may not know. But I’m going to rhyme something.”
Before his time ran out, Al just wanted to check that McConaughey didn’t want to make any announcements about his future plans.
“The announcement I would like to make today is that on March 21, 2021, at 7 pm central time, on my YouTube channel, you will see a rebirth and a restoration of people coming together to help the Texans who were injured and lost food and drinking water and the ability to live in their own homes, “he said. “We are going to unite, we are going to help our neighbors here in Texas. And we are inviting the world to come in and help us too. It will be a party.”