With the election coming up and the country seemingly as divided as ever, one political couple proves that you can get along and flourish regardless of where you fall politically. That couple is James Carville and Mary Matalin, Democrat and Republican turned Libertarian respectively, but more importantly a loving and caring married couple. What happened to them? Read on to find out.
For decades, the couple has been leading by example and illustrating that it’s fine to disagree, even when it comes to former President Donald Trump. In fact, Carville has gone on record saying you should seek out people you disagree with to “test the way that you think.”
The political power couple met way back in 1992 when Matalin was working on then President George H.W. Bush’s reelection campaign, while Carville worked as a strategist for a Democratic upstart named Bill Clinton.
Matalin has said that the couple can agree on things like trade policies or economic growth policies, and that their “core values are in sync; it’s just our ways to get there that differ.”
The obvious question most people ask is if they think the opposing political parties could learn anything from their marriage. Matalin said “no” because a marriage isn’t a democracy, but that the key is to pick your battles.
“I guess there’s a lesson in that,” she said. “You’ve got to give on things you don’t care about but stand pat on the things that you do.” It’s obvious the two love each other; Matalin has called her husband a “genius” with the caveat that he’s “frequently wrong, but that doesn’t make him not a genius.”
These days, the couple isn’t as active. Carville is 79 and considers himself retired, although he will appear as a pundit on TV news from time to time. Matalin is 70. They share two daughters and made news in 2021 when they sold their $3.3 million mansion in New Orleans and replaced it with a condo.
They even published a book together in 2014 called Love & War: Twenty Years, Three Presidents, Two Daughters and One Louisiana. Earlier this year, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote an op-ed piece called “James Carville, the Cajun Who Can’t Stop Ragin’.”
The piece revealed that Carville spent some of his latter years teaching at Louisiana State University, but eventually decided to quit because of the delicate political climate currently in universities. He said:
“I was scared to death in my job. I was like: ‘I don’t need L.S.U.’s money. I don’t need to drive up there and listen to that crap.’ I just said: ‘That’s it. I’m done. This is not for me.’”
However, it was also revealed that the couple was going strong even after 30 years of marriage. Here’s to 30 more!
