Matthew McConaughey Weighs in on Possibility of Running for Texas Governor

Don’t count on a career in politics for Matthew McConaughey anytime soon. While the Oscar-winning actor appeared to consider a possible run for Texas governor in a discussion with talk radio host Hugh Hewitt Tuesday, he clarified on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Wednesday night that he has “no plans to do that right now.”

The speculation about McConaughey’s future began when the 51-year-old actor gave a noncommittal answer to Hewitt when asked if he would run for governor of his home state. “I mean, that wouldn’t be up to me. It would be up to the people more than it would me,” McConaughey said. “I would say this: 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 also described his political philosophy as supporting “personal values to rebind our social contracts with each other as Americans,” but questioned “how much you can really get done in politics.”

After the interview made headlines as the Dallas Buyers Club actor considering a run, he clarified the following day to Colbert that there was nothing even remotely in the works. “I’ve always kind of given the same answer, but evidently one of them came out as ‘I would consider it’ since I didn’t say ‘absolutely no,’” he said. “As I move forward in life, am I going to consider leadership roles where I can be most useful? I’d love to, I’m doing that regardless. That’s where I sit right now.” Pressed by the late-night host if he would even “consider” a gubernatorial run, McConaughey responded, “Whatever leadership role I can be most useful in, and I don’t know that that’s politics, right now I don’t see it as politics. I’ll drink to that.”

McConaughey is now living in Texas with wife Camila Alves McConaughey and their three children — sons Levi, 12, and Livingston, 7, and daughter Vida, 10. The actor’s 88-year-old mother has also moved in with the family amid the coronavirus pandemic, he revealed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show recently. “It’s been going on long enough to sometimes say, when you say how many kids you have in the house, I say four: a 12, 10, 7 and 88-year-old,” he joked. “She still goes to bed after me and wakes up before me!”