In a video posted to Twitter on Sunday evening, Oscar winning actor, and notable Texas resident, Matthew McConaughey announced that he will not be running for Texas Governor.
Matthew McConaughey says, “Just keep living”, in video, announcing he will not run for Texas Governor.
McConaughey stated in the video that, “for now,” his “time and energy is better spent elsewhere”.
Speculation about the actor's potential run circulated for months. At one point, a poll in the Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler, placed a still undecided McConaughey in better standing against Gov. Greg Abbott than the Governor's current challenger, Beto O'Rourke. 44% of respondents said they would vote for McConaughey over Greg Abbott, who received 35% of the votes in the poll. In the same poll by comparison, Beto O’Rourke would receive 37% of votes while Abbott would retain 42%.
McConaughey describes himself as “aggressively centrist” rather than as a Democrat, Republican, or Independent.
In the video, McConaughey stated that he, “learned a lot,” and “we have some problems we need to fix.” “Our politics needs new purpose. That we have divides that need healing. That we need trust in our lives. That we got to start shining a light on our shared values. The ones that cross party lines. The ones that build bridges instead of burn them. That our children are our greatest asset so, hey, let’s be as good of parents as we can be.”
McConaughey ended his video by saying, “Just keep living”, a line from his 1993 film, Dazed and Confused.
Current Governor, Greg Abbott who is seeking his third term as Governor of Texas, commented on a potential challenge from McConaughey in an appearance on Fox News back in July, stating, “It doesn't matter what the name is, I take everybody very seriously, and it shows, "Abbott said of McConaughey. "I will tell you two things, and that is if you look at my polling numbers, they are very, very strong. In addition to that, I have $55 million in the bank already, and I’m a very aggressive fundraiser."
For the meanwhile, Texas politics can focus on Abbott, the Republican incumbent Governor vs. his Democratic challenger from El Paso, Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke.
O’Rourke announced his candidacy for Governor of Texas on Twitter earlier this month, on November 15, 2021, announcing, “I’m running for governor. Together, we can push past the small and divisive politics that we see in Texas today — and get back to the big, bold vision that used to define Texas. A Texas big enough for all of us.”
This will be O’Rourke’s third political campaign since 2018 when he ran against Senator Ted Cruz (R), and then went on to campaign as a Democratic candidate for the 2020 Presidential election.
O’Rourke has been a vocal critic of current Governor Greg Abbott on every hot topic issue in Texas from gun laws, and abortion, to voting rights.
The Texas race for Governor is set. Who will get your vote in 2022?
Texas votes for Governor on November 8, 2022.
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