George W. Bush Offers This Piece of Advice for Matthew McConaughey Amid Rumored Political Ambitions

As Matthew McConaughey continues to consider his possible future venture into the political arena, he is getting some sound advice from someone familiar with political careers. Former President George W. Bush weighed in on the actor “making headlines down in Texas” following his recent comments that he is “considering” running for governor in his home state, those comments following years of similar remarks made by the actor.

Appearing on Today with Hoda & Jenna Tuesday, Bush, who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 after having served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000, told daughter Jenna Bush Hager that he has “read” and is aware of McConaughey’s political aspiration. While he did not go into too much detail about the Oscar-winning actor possibly making the move into politics, he did offer him some advice, Page Six reports. Should McConaughey venture into politics, Bush cautioned him, “it’s a tough business.”

For years now the 51-year-old actor has opened up about his desire to possibly run for governor of his home state, a position that is currently held by Governor Greg Abbott. While he in November he had “no plans” to run, he changed his tune in March while making an appearance on The Balanced Voice podcast, where he said running against Abbott, who is up for re-election next year, was a “true consideration.”

“I’m looking into now, what is my leadership role? Because I do think I have some things to teach and share. What is my role, what is my category in my next chapter of life that I’m going into now?” he said before adding that “it’s a true consideration.” He previously noted that the decision would ultimately not be “up to me. It would be up to the people more than it would me,” and speaking with Today‘s Al Roker earlier in 2021, he said running was “a very honorable consideration.”

While it remains to be seen if the actor actually puts a foot in the political arena, he clearly has some support in his home state of Texas, where a recent poll showed a large percentage of Texans would vote for him for governor. Released in April by the Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler, the poll found that 45% of Texas registered voters would vote for McConaughey, with 33% saying they would vote for Abbott. McConaughey hasn’t yet commented on that poll. Meanwhile, a different poll found that another Hollywood A-lister has a large backing, with 46% of respondents saying they want to see Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson run for president.