McConaughey – who was born in Uvalde, Texas, and attended college at the University of Texas at Austin – has flirted with a candidacy for governor in his home state, most recently saying it was “a real consideration” in an interview on “The Podcast of Balanced Voice ”Wednesday.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has already announced that he will seek a third term in next year’s elections. But the current Republican has become increasingly at war in recent months, criticized for his response to the pandemic and how to deal with a winter storm that has resulted in massive power cuts across most of the state.
Former Texan deputy Beto O’Rourke, whose Democratic presidential bid in 2020 failed, also expressed an interest in running for governor. “It’s something I’m going to think about,” he told KLAQ radio station in El Paso, Texas, in January. O’Rourke has already lost a state election in Texas – his 2018 Senate race against Republican Senator Ted Cruz.
McConaughey is currently helping relief efforts in Texas after last month’s storm, as well as organizing a virtual charity event that will take place on March 21. The Oscar-winning actor also leads the “just keep livin” foundation, which works to train high school students. He published a memoir, “Greenlights”, last year.
During his promotional trip for that book, McConaughey made some of his first public comments about a possible run for governor. In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt last November, he argued that “politics seems to be a failed business” and said he “could be much more interested” in work “when politics redefine its purpose”.
“I want to support personal values to rewire our social contracts with each other as Americans, as people again,” said McConaughey at the time, adding that it was important for the country to “stabilize first” after the 2020 elections “before we start to say: ‘OK, this is how we are getting out of this situation together’ ”.