Manchin: Matthew McConaughey ‘absolutely so accurate’ on independents

Former Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) on Monday said actor Matthew McConaughey was “absolutely so accurate” in his pre-midterm election message calling on Americans to choose independent candidates who will help bring Congress back to the political center.

“He is absolutely so accurate,” Manchin told “The Hill” host Blake Burman on NewsNation. “It’s not that [you] run through them. It means you have to run with them. If they don’t go with you and you’re completely extreme to the left or to the right, you can’t get anywhere.”

McConaughey referred to Manchin’s organization launched last year, the Independent Leadership Council, in his social media post on Sunday, calling for a “fair fight” in the midterms, saying the U.S.’s “No. 1 identity … is independent.”

“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,” the actor said in a post on X.

McConaughey said Manchin knew “the math” and “took all the fire” for being an independent in the Senate.

Manchin echoed the actor’s sentiments in his interview with Burman on Monday.

“If you want to get something done and you have two, three, or four in the middle [who] says, ‘I will work with either side who has our country’s best interest at heart,” he continued. “That’s where we’ll go. And you can count on us being there, but not any other way. If you’re playing just to the party to demonize the other side, count us out. We’re out of this. We don’t belong to either one of you.’ This is what the country started. This is how it was intended to be.”

The former Democratic senator said the message harkened back to President George Washington’s farewell address warning against political factions, “for they can become the engines that usurp the power from the people.”

“The power of the parties gets so powerful, Blake,” Manchin continued. “How do they control everything? How do they get all the elections to where they’re able to control –– change the laws and change the rules?”

If Democrats win back power in Congress, he urged his former party to restire a balance of power but “hit the ground running” to tackle the cost of living, lower the national debt and “get people’s lives in a better position.”

“If you’re going for retaliation and retribution, you’re going down the Primrose path you can’t return from,” he said.

As for a possible future in politics for the “True Detective” actor, Manchin said McConaughey “has the ability” to one day run for president.

“He’s smart. He’s charismatic,” Manchin said. “He’s able to communicate. He’s able to tell a story that makes sense and you’ll listen to. He has all the qualities and all the ingredients that it takes to bring this country together. Now, if that’s where he wishes to go or whatever, I’d be 1,000 percent behind him. Absolutely.”

Two independents –– Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a progressive, and Angus King (I-Maine), a moderate –– serve in the Senate, while Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-Calif.), formerly a Republican, is facing a tough race for reelection as the only unaffiliated House member.