Matthew McConaughey on Sunday pleaded with Americans to consider voting for independent candidates in the 2026 midterms. “Treat ’em like a potential winner because they can be,” he said in a 6-minute video on X.

The actor wasn’t beating his chest like his cocaine-addled character in “The Wolf of Wall Street” ― but called for limiting the partisan power of the two major parties.

“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. “... Independent does not mean you’re middle of the road. Independent is the original road. Before there was ever a Republican or Democrat, there was an American.”

The Oscar winner clarified he was not making particular ballot endorsements.

“I am not here today to endorse a candidate or a party,” he said. “I am here endorsing two things: fairness and reality. See, 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 oughta be represented in the fight are actually in the fight!”

Independent counts. pic.twitter.com/N9MkKlBuIR

McConaughey, a University of Texas alum who’s a Longhorns fanatic, offered a football metaphor for his argument: “Independents keep the game between the 40s where most of America actually lives. Independents don’t just have leverage; they actually are the leverage.”

A CNN poll released in June revealed that 47% of voters do not identify as a Democrat or Republican, with independents rising by 10% since President Donald Trump’s first term.

The Oscar winner wished for a handful of true independents to occupy the Senate and serve as the “toll booth” where overly partisan measures get stopped.

McConaughey, who mentioned former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s new organization to get more independents elected, said he was not advocating for a third party but for a “permanent check” to keep the major parties honest.

“America’s brand was never R or D,” he said. “It’s independent.”

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