Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Actor Matthew McConaughey continued to tease he might run for political office to a room full of governors Friday, joshing about drinking his brand of tequila with at least one of them the night before and taking advice from another to be himself if he ever does run.<\/p>\n
Whether the star known for \u201cDazed and Confused,\u201d \u201cA Time to Kill\u201d and \u201cTrue Detective\u201d would run as a Democrat or Republican, and for what office, remained unknown. McConaughey has been vague about his political affiliation and didn\u2019t tip his hand at the National Governors Association meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m on a learning tour and have been for probably the last six years,\u201d McConaughey told New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who asked about his plans. \u201cDo I have the instincts and intellect that it would be a good fit for me and I would be a good for it. You know, would I be useful?\u201d<\/p>\n
He was learning a lot at the governors\u2019 annual summer meeting, he told Murphy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned a lot from you last night through that tequila, sir,\u201d he kidded Murphy, who\u2019d brought up drinking McConaughey\u2019s tequila with him.<\/p>\n
McConaughey took part in a panel discussion with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, about how to promote civility in politics.<\/p>\n
Cox, the genial governor of famously polite Utah, has led a \u201cDisagree Better\u201d campaign to counter harsh rhetoric and combativeness in government \u2014 a project that has caught the attention of McConaughey, who\u2019s also been outspoken about U.S. leaders practicing more respect.<\/p>\n
The three discussed how politicians\u2019 need to grab attention \u2014 and clicks online \u2014 drive extreme rhetoric. McConaughey said that extreme polarization has bled into Hollywood as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy industry has to watch its tongue out of the gate because it\u2019s coming from the left. We have to open that conversation with our opening statements and not invalidate a moderate or conservative at the gate, which we\u2019re guilty of to an extent,\u201d McConaughey remarked of actors and directors weighing in on politics.<\/p>\n
McConaughey hinted in 2022<\/a> he might run for governor in his home state of Texas. He has meanwhile been outspoken on gun control<\/a>, urging Congress from the White House after that year\u2019s school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, to pass legislation to bolster background checks for gun purchases and raise the minimum age to purchase an AR-15-style rifle to 21 from 18.<\/p>\n Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat, encouraged McConaughey to someday run and offered advice.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t fall into the trap to think you should be just one thing,\u201d said Green. \u201cA lot of Republicans will want you to be Republican and a lot of Democrats will want you to be a Democrat, just be you because that might be something special for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n