Matthew McConaughey answered one big question and left open several others in a video he posted Sunday about his future in politics. The news is that he is not running for governor of Texas next year. "As a simple kid born in the little town of Uvalde, Texas, it never occurred to me that I would be considered for political leadership," the actor said. "It's a humbling and inspiring path to ponder. It is also a path that I'm choosing not to take at this moment."
The filing deadline for the Texas primaries are in just over two weeks. And one of the questions McConaughey did not answer is whether he would have entered the Republican gubernatorial primary, Democratic primary, or run as an independent. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is running for a third term, and while he has a handful of primary challengers, he is expected to win the nomination. The most prominent Democrat to have jumped in the race is former Rep. Beto O'Rourke.
McConaughey led both Abbott and O'Rourke in recent polling, but he "never did much to elaborate on how he would have run, and he did not seem particularly attuned to political events in Texas," The Texas Tribune notes. He has previously described himself as "aggressively centrist."
O'Rourke was among those that have pinned McConaughey's robust poll numbers in part on his political blank canvas. "He's a really popular figure whose political views have not in any way been fixed," O'Rourke said in September. McConaughey hasn't said which party he identifies with more or even who he voted for in 2020, and "I don't know how he feels about any of the issues that we've brought up."
McConaughey did explain his views on leadership and what he would like to see in political leaders, and he offered that instead of running for political leadership himself, he plans to continue supporting "entrepreneurs, businesses, and foundations that I believe are leaders" and that are "creating pathways for people to succeed in life."