Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is up for reelection in 2022, and Matthew McConaughey could be running for it.
Actor Matthew McConaughey, 51, is "seriously considering" running for the position of Texas governor. The election in the state will take place in 2022. The actor was on a recent episode of The Balanced Voice podcast, when he told the host, Rania Mankarious, that running for governor was a “true consideration”.
"I'm looking into now again, what is my leadership role?" he said. "Because I do think I have some things to teach and share, and what is my role? What's my category in my next chapter of life that I'm going into?"
The True Detective star's home state is Texas and he is thinking about fighting for the top job. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is up for reelection in 2022, according to CNN. This is not the first time that the 51-year-old spoke about it. In November 2020, he said the same thing on The Hugh Hewitt Show. "I don't know. I mean, that wouldn't be up to me. It would be up to the people more than it would me," he said. "Look, politics seems to be a broken business to me right now. And when politics redefines its purpose, I could be a hell of a lot more interested," he added.
If he runs for the position, McConaughey will be up against Abbott, who is a Republican. The actor's political affiliation is not known but many people are speculating which party he would join, according to The Guardian. While he has never made his political ideology clear, his past comments on issues such as gun violence, masks, and defunding the police can show a clear picture.
In October 2020, he spoke about being a Christian in Hollywood and defunding the police. He said some Hollywood liberals went too far left. Discussing his religion, he said, "Some people in our industry, not all of them, there’s some that go to the left so far … that go to the illiberal left side so far, that is so condescending and patronizing to 50% of the world that need the empathy that the liberals have … To illegitimize them because they say they are a believer is just so arrogant, and in some ways hypocritical, to me."
When speaking about defunding the police, McConaughey said, "It’s almost like it should have been renamed because ‘defund’ does not sound anything like there’s been money reallocated to different areas of handling some police exercise." He added, "The community and the police need to get back together, and the community needs to say, 'Here’s what’s unfair. Here’s how I feel it’s unfair as a Black man or a person of color or whatever the situation. Here’s my problem with my relationship with you as cops."
The actor said that he believes in meeting others in the middle and having balance. "The two sides got to talk," he said. "Hey, where can we reach across the aisle here? Find a compromise for the betterment of all of us?" he added.
References:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/mar/11/matthew-mcconaughey-texas-governor
Cover image source: Getty Images | Photo by Brendon Thorne