Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey says running for Texas governor is “a real consideration”

Updated at 7:21 pm with an interview with NBC News.

Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey is once again talking about running for the Texas government.

THE Dallas Buyers Club star had already chased speculation that he would run for governor in 2022, but in an episode of the Houston Crime Stoppers The balanced voice podcast that was posted on Wednesday, he said that running is “a real consideration”.

“I am investigating, now again, what is my leadership role?” McConaughey said. “Because I think I have a few things to teach and share. And what is my role? What is my category in the next chapter of life that I will enter? “

In an interview with Al Roker on NBC News’ Today aired on Friday, McConaughey reaffirmed that he is considering the race.

“Am I considering this? Of course, ”said McConaughey. “What I have to choose for myself is that I want to take a leadership role in the next chapter of my life.”

McConaughey, 51, lives in Austin. He was born in Uvalde, west of San Antonio, and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993.

He registered to vote at his address in Austin in 2012 after the presidential election and has voted twice since, according to Travis County records, in the 2018 and 2020 general elections – which means he did not vote in the elections. for governor of 2014, in which the Texans elected a Republican Greg Abbott, reelected in 2018.

McConaughey has been firmly apolitical, making headlines recently for criticizing left and right “illiberal” deniers of Hollywood election results on British comedian Russel Brand’s podcast Under the skin.

McConaughey challenged people on both sides of the political spectrum to find themselves in the middle, saying that being “aggressively centered” is “not a recession, it is an aggressive move”.

McConaughey, by promoting his New York Times best selling book, Greenlights, he was repeatedly asked whether he would run for governor. He had flirted with the idea in the past, saying about the Hugh Hewitt Show in November that he had not discarded.

“It would depend more on the people than on me,” McConaughey said at the time. “I would say that. Look, politics seems to be a broken business for me now. And when politics redefine their purpose, I could be much more interested. “

He quickly rejected political speculation in an interview the same month in The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

“I have no plans to do that now,” said McConaughey at the time. “Not now. I don’t understand politics. Politics looks like a failed business. Politics needs to redefine its purpose.”

He did not completely rule out a potential run, however.

“Whatever the leadership role in which I can be most useful, and I don’t know if that is politics,” said McConaughey. “At the moment, I don’t see it as a policy – I’m going to drink it.”

McConaughey would not be the first celebrity to run for governor in Texas. Singer-songwriter Kinky Friedman ran as an independent in 2006, getting 12.6% of the vote and losing to Republican Governor Rick Perry.

To run for governor of Texas, you must be at least 30 years old and must have resided in the state for at least five years before the election. While serving as governor, you may not hold any other office, practice any profession, or receive a salary from any person or company, in accordance with the Texas Constitution.