McConaughey not running for governor of Texas

Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey said Sunday that he is not running for governor of Texas.

Speaking in a 4 1/2-minute-long video posted to Twitter, the 52-year-old said that as a small-town kid from Uvalde, Texas, he never thought he’d be mentioned as a legitimate candidate for public office.

Calling it a “humbling and inspiring path to ponder,” he said: “It’s also a path that I’m choosing not to take at this moment.“

McConaughey, whose possible candidacy was seen as a complication in Texas’ 2022 gubernatorial race, said he would instead continue to work to support businesses, entrepreneurs, foundations and organizations that make life better.

“Politicians,” he said, “the good ones can help us get where we need to go, yeah. But let’s be clear: They can‘t do anything for us unless we chose to do for ourselves.”

McConaughey, who won an Oscar for his performance in 2013’s “Dallas Buyers Club,” said he‘d spent the past two years trying to listen and learn, as well as studying local and national politics.

“I‘ve learned that freedom comes with responsibility,” he said.

McConaughey’s possible entry into the field was seen as a wild card in a race that already features incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, former Florida Rep. Allen West — who is challenging Abbott from the right — and former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke, among others. Amid all the speculation about him, it wasn’t clear what type of campaign McConaughey was considering waging or what issues he would have focused on.

The actor finished his Twitter address with the phrase, “Just keep livin’,” a paean to his breakthrough role in the 1993 movie “Dazed and Confused.”