Matthew McConaughey is urging voters to take independent candidates seriously in the 2026 midterms, arguing they could force Republicans and Democrats toward the political center.
The appeal comes as a record 45 percent of U.S. adults identified as independents in 2025, compared with 27 percent each who identified as Democrats and Republicans, according to Gallup.
Former independent Senator Joe Manchin backed McConaughey's message and told NewsNation the actor has the ability to pursue politics "at the highest level."
Newsweek reached out to McConaughey's representative via email for comment on Tuesday.
'A Real and Potential Winner'
McConaughey made the pitch in a six-minute video posted to X on Sunday, saying he was not endorsing a candidate or political party but instead "fairness and reality."
His argument was that the country's largest political identity should have a genuine opportunity to compete for power.
"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," he said in the clip.
The actor argued that electing even a small number of independents could change the balance of power in Congress by making it harder for either major party to govern without seeking support from the middle.
As an example, McConaughey pointed to Manchin, the former West Virginia senator, and the Independent Leadership Council, an organization Manchin launched earlier in 2026 to recruit and help elect independent candidates.
"Now imagine that same power held by three or four together, owned by no party at all," McConaughey said, referring to Manchin's influence in an evenly divided Senate.
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Independent Identification Hits a Record High
McConaughey's message lands at a moment when dissatisfaction with the traditional party labels is particularly visible in polling.
Gallup found that a record 45 percent of U.S. adults identified as political independents in 2025, exceeding the previous high of 43 percent recorded in 2014, 2023 and 2024. The findings were based on interviews with more than 13,000 adults nationwide.
Independent identification is particularly high among younger Americans. Fifty-six percent of Generation Z adults identified as independents, while a majority of millennials did the same. More than four in 10 Generation X adults also chose the label.
Being independent, however, does not necessarily mean being politically neutral. Of the 45 percent identifying that way in 2025, 20 percent of Americans were Democratic-leaning independents, 15 percent Republican-leaning independents and 10 percent did not lean toward either party.
Joe Manchin Backs McConaughey
Manchin quickly welcomed the intervention, agreeing with McConaughey on X that independents "don't just have leverage, they are the leverage" and arguing that a few independent lawmakers could return power to the political middle.
Speaking separately to NewsNation, the former senator went further when asked about McConaughey's own political prospects.
Manchin said McConaughey could become president of the United States, describing the actor as smart, charismatic and able to communicate. He added that he would support such a move if McConaughey decided to make one.
Manchin also said he had no advance knowledge that the video was coming.
McConaughey Has Considered Running Before
The intervention has renewed attention on McConaughey's own political ambitions, which have surfaced repeatedly without turning into a candidacy.
In 2021, he seriously considered entering the 2022 Texas governor's race but ultimately announced that political leadership was a path he was "choosing not to take at this moment." He never said whether he would have run as a Democrat, Republican or something else.
His voter history nevertheless reinforces his longstanding distance from party politics. Records reported by The Texas Tribune in 2021 showed that McConaughey had been registered in Travis County since November 2012 and had not voted in a Texas party primary since at least that year. He had voted in the 2018 and 2020 general elections. Texas registration does not require voters to permanently select a political party.
McConaughey has also previously described his approach as "aggressively centric."
His most prominent political intervention came after the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas. After meeting then-President Joe Biden and lawmakers from both parties, McConaughey addressed the White House press corps and advocated measures including expanded background checks, raising the minimum age to buy an AR-15-style rifle and red-flag laws. He argued at the time that gun responsibility should be treated as a nonpartisan issue.
The latest video stops short of announcing any campaign. Instead, McConaughey is making a broader case: with independent identification at a record level, voters who reject both major party labels should have more than a symbolic role in deciding who holds power in Washington.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Robert Greenall and Ben Kelly