If elected, O’rourke has a job for Mcconaughey on his team

Democrat Beto O’rourke said if he wins the governor’s race in November, he absolutely sees a role for actor Matthew Mcconaughey on his team.

During an interview on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” O’rourke said he’s not sure if the Academy Award winner is a Democrat or a Republican, but heaped praise on the Uvalde native for his work to help Texans in time of crisis. O’rourke said after the 2021 winter storms and after the 2019 mass shooting in El Paso, Mcconaughey dropped everything and was helping raise money and support Texans in need.

“This guy’s a great Texan,” O’rourke said after Meyers asked him if he’d try to bring Mcconaughey on in some capacity. “Beyond being an extraordinary actor, when the chips are down in our state, this guy shows up.”

O’rourke later added, “so whatever he wants to do and whoever he can help, we want to turn him loose.”

Last year, Mcconaughey, a University of Texas alum, toyed with the idea of running for governor himself. At the time, he said he was exploring whether to become more involved in politics or find other ways to help people.

“As a simple kid born in the little town of Uvalde, Texas, it never occurred to me that I would one day be considered for political leadership,” he said in a social media post in November. “It’s a humbling and inspiring path to ponder. It is also a path that I am choosing not to take at this moment.”

Mcconaughey, 52, already has made some inroads in Texas politics. In 2018, he appeared in public service announcements with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to bring more awareness to human trafficking in the state. And in 2020, he appeared in public service announcements as part of an antilitter campaign with the Texas Department of Transportation.

Last year, Mcconaughey also weighed in on the Texas abortion legislation that bars women from getting an abortion after six weeks even if they are victims of rape or incest.

“I’ve got a problem with that,” Mcconaughey said, though he never spelled out his position on abortion.

The Academy Award winner also has declined to publicly disclose whether he votes Republican or a Democrat — at one point describing his political views as “aggressively centric.”