By Nik Rajkovic
May 11, 2021
Matthew McConaughey and Caitlyn Jenner may be the first in what could quickly become a growing list of celebrities seeking public office in the wake of President Donald Trump.
Trump was not the first celebrity to jump into politics, nor was he the first in the White House. From Ronald Reagan to Arnold Schwarzenegger, to football's Steve Largent and others, the list of celebrities seeking public office goes back decades.
“Sonny Bono was a congressman from California for a while. Jesse Ventura was governor of Minnesota. The list goes on and on. That being said, they have varied widely in their level of effectiveness and their level of political seriousness,” says Matthew Wilson, political science professor at Southern Methodist University.