Actor Matthew McConaughey called on Americans to support Independent candidates this decade, rejecting claims that Independents are “fence-sitters.”

McConaughey issued his call in a video posted to X on Sunday, saying that Independents exist as genuine candidates, not as protest or spoiler  candidates.

“They’ve been telling us for years that an independent vote is a wasted vote,” McConaughey said. “Well, a great question for our time is: ‘How’s that unwasted vote been working out for you?’”

“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 added. “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.”

McConaughey said, “Before there was ever a Republican or a Democrat, there was an American. Our birth certificate is not the Declaration of Compromise; it’s the Declaration of Independence.”

McConaughey noted that many identify as Independents as opposed to Democrats or Republicans. In fact, a Gallup poll confirmed earlier this year that roughly 45 percent of Americans identify as Independents.

According to McConaughey, the presence of so many Independents shows that Democrats and Republicans do not have the final say on politics.

“The system has never been more lopsided,” he said.  “I am not here today to endorse a candidate or party. 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!”

Ultimately, the actor said that the presence of Independents in places like the Senate could act as a “toll booth” that will require partisan Democrats and Republicans to pass before they can implement more extreme agendas..