Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura have been governors and a former reality TV show host was once President of the United States. There’s no question that being a celebrity can really help if you have aspirations for political office, and while Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has said he has no plans (at least right now) to run for office, apparently both major parties have discussed the possibility with him.
A few years back a poll was released that said that a lot of people supported the idea of Dwayne Johnson running for President of the United States. Back in mid-2022, Johnson said he would consider running for office if that was really what people wanted. Speaking with Trevor Noah on Noah’s What Now? podcast, Johnson says that statement brought both major parties to his door to discuss the possibility. Johnson explained…
That was an interesting poll that happened and I was really moved by that. I was really blown away and I was really honored. I'll share this little bit with you: at the end of the year in 2022, I got a visit from the parties asking me if I was going to run, and if I could run.
The Rock running for office would certainly mean fewer Dwayne Johnson movies for a while, especially if he were to actually win, but it sounds like a lot of voters may be cool with that. Numerous Hollywood celebrities have used their celebrity to run for office over the years at various levels. In addition to Schwarzenegger and Ventura, Clint Eastwood was the Mayor of Carmel, CA. Matthew McConaughey has expressed some interest in running for governor of his home state of Texas.
Part of the reason that both parties came to visit Johnson may be that it’s unclear if he were to run, what party he would run under. Johnson was reportedly a registered Republican in the past but is currently registered independent. He endorsed the Biden/Harris campaign in 2020, the first time he had ever publicly endorsed a candidate.
Considering how popular the idea of The Rock For President seemingly is with the public, it’s not surprising both parties would want to confer with him on the idea. Either party would likely want Dwayne Johnson running under their banner. The one he didn't pick would want to prepare as early as possible to campaign against him. The fact that this is even a possibility is still quite a shock to the Rock. He continued…
It was a big deal, and it came out of the blue. It was one after the other, and they brought up that poll, and they also brought up their own deep-dive research that would prove that should I ever decide to go down that road [I'd be a real contender]. It was all very surreal because that's never been my goal. My goal has never been to be in politics. As a matter of fact, there's a lot about politics that I hate.
While people may want to see The Rock as President, it’s not going to happen anytime soon, if ever. Johnson has stated previously that he had decided not to run in order to be sure he was there to watch his young daughters grow up. Still, once that has happened, if people still want to see Johnson as President, who knows?
