Actor Matthew McConaughey is still considering a run for Texas governor.
After being encouraged by the hosts of the Set it Straight podcast (via People) to consider a political run, McConaughey responded: “Well, thank you, man. I’m measuring it. Look, it’s going to be in some capacity… I just – I’m more of a folksy and philosopher-poet statesman than I am a, per se, definitive politician.”
“So I go, well, that’s a reason not to, but then I go, no, that’s exactly why you should,” he said, “because politics needs redefinition, but I’m measuring, you know, what is my category? What’s my embassy?”
The actor previously said he was “seriously” considering a run for Texas governor in 2022. A recent poll showed that McConaughey leads incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott by nine percent in a hypothetical race.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R) seems to believe McConaughey could win. “I think he would undoubtedly be formidable,” Cruz said recently.
Republican strategist Karl Rove said he believes a McConaughey political run would be “improbable, but it’s not out of the question.”
McConaughey said on the podcast that he does not want his potential political career to overshadow his artistic endeavors. “I have to remain an artist,” he said. “I’ve earned my right to enjoy that Saturday night part of life, that music part of life. It has to have music to it. You know what I mean. I’m very good at being diligent, Monday morning, practical, structure, I’m all of that. But I gotta continue to be an artist in what I do. Now if that’s the category to be able to do that in, which would be different than, I think, some people have done it up to now, maybe it’s for me. But maybe it’s also in a whole new category that I just create, and we’ll see.”
Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke is said to be likely to run as Democrat for governor.
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