Matthew McConaughey: ‘Independents belong’ in political fight

Matthew McConaughey is sharing a pre-midterm elections message, saying that voting for independent candidates could bring lawmakers “back to the middle, where most American values live.”

In a video posted on X on Sunday, the “Interstellar” star said, “This is about the upcoming ballot, and I am not here today to endorse a candidate or a party. I am here endorsing two things: fairness and reality.”

“I believe in a fair fight, and a fair fight is not just two fighters throwing the same punches at each other for 50 years. A fair fight is when the fighters who ought to be represented in the fight are actually in the fight,” McConaughey said.

“The number one political identity in America today is not Republican. It is not Democrat. It is independent,” McConaughey said.

A 2025 Gallup poll found that 45 percent of U.S. adults identified as independents, compared to 27 percent each of respondents identifying as Democrats or Republicans.

“So independents belong in the fight — not as a protest, not as a spoiler — but as a real and potential winner, on the ballot and considered seriously by us,” McConaughey said.

“Our birth certificate is not the Declaration of Compromise — it is the Declaration of Independence. And a true independent is not a fence sitter, Mr. or Mrs. In-Between,” McConaughey, who’s flirted with a political bid himself over the years, told his more than 2.8 X followers.

“A true independent is not even against the R’s or the D’s. A true independent takes the best of both, and that’s not indecision,” he said.

Touting former Sen. Joe Manchin’s (I-W.Va.) organization, the Independent Leadership Council, which the ex-lawmaker launched earlier this year aimed at recruiting and electing independent candidates, McCounaghey said, “Joe Manchin knows the math — lived it in a 50-50 Senate. One independent mind became the deciding vote and took all the fire for it alone.”

“Now imagine that same power held by three or four together, owned by no party at all,” he said.

The political system, according to the 56-year-old performer, “has never been more lopsided.”

“In 2024, 87 percent of U.S. House seats were effectively decided in party primaries by just 7 percent of eligible voters,” McConaughey said.

“For most Americans, the real election is over before they ever even show up in November. And that’s not competition — that’s more like a scrimmage, one team playing against itself, deciding the season for everybody else.”

“Understand if the goal is to change how both parties behave. If the goal is to bring them back to the middle, where most American values live, then electing independents is a mechanism to make that happen,” McConaughey said.

“The reality is, midterms are coming, and this November, in more places than ever, you do have more than two choices,” the Academy Award winner said.

“I’m not telling you who to vote for. I’m telling you to look at your ballot and study up. See if they represent you, what you believe in,” he said.

“Check if they can be that voice of reason, and if they can, treat them like a potential winner because they can be,” McConaughey said.

“That’s what fairness looks like. That’s what reality allows for the first time in a long, long time.”