Matthew McConaughey Shares Candid Details About How He’d Like to Enter Politics

While Matthew McConaughey hasn’t decided to run for governor of Texas yet, the actor thinks politics are definitely in his future in some way. Speaking with the country band Midland for the podcast Set It Straight: Myths and Legends, McConaughey said he’s “measuring” what his next move in the political realm will be after the idea of his governor run has garnered some positive polling. 

“Look, it’s going to be in some capacity. I’m more of a folk-singing, philosopher, poet-statesman than I am per-se definitive politician, so I go, ‘Well that’s a reason not to,’ and then I go, ‘No, that’s exactly why you should, because politics needs redefinition,’” he said. The Oscar-winner wouldn’t give up his creative life either way, telling Midland, “I have to remain a storyteller. I’ve been given that gift. I love doing it. I have to remain an artist.”

McConaughey, who lives in Austin with his wife, Camila Alves, and their children: Levi, Livingston and Vida, floated the idea of balancing his life as an artist with stepping into the public sector. “I’ve earned the right to enjoy that Saturday night part of life, that music part of life. … I’m very good at being diligent – Monday morning, practical, structure – I’m all of that but I’ve got to continue to be an artist,” he said. “If that’s the category to continue 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’m just creating.”

McConaughey previously floated the idea of running for Texas governor last year, explaining in November on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, “It would be up to the people more than it would me.” He described his political philosophy as supporting “personal values to rebind our social contracts with each other as Americans,” but wondered “how much you can really get done in politics.”

McConaughey’s potential run has already seen some positive polling. In a recent poll of 1,148 registered voters by The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler, the Dallas Buyers Club actor led current Gov. Greg Abbott by about nine points, with 44% saying they would vote for McConaughey and only 35% saying they would vote for Abbott.