We might see another celebrity enter the race for President of the United States in 2020, as WWE Hall of Famer, movie star, and former Governor of MinnesotaJesse Venturais “testing the waters” for a presidential campaign this year. Taking to Twitter on Monday, Ventura revealed he’d be interested in running on behalf of the Green Party, and the ball now seems to be in their court. “IF I were going to run for president, the GREEN party would be my first choice. I’ve endorsed the party and I’m testing the waters,” Ventura noted in the tweet.
In a follow-up tweet, Ventura makes it clear he hasn’t yet officially put a campaign into motion, and this decision will depend on how the Green Party reacts to the offer. “I haven’t filed anything. I authorized a letter of interest that was sent on my behalf to the Greens and I’m testing the waters for Green Party nomination,” Ventura reiterates in his second tweet. Also making it clear he intends to bring something different to the table compared to fellow candidatesDonald Trumpand Joe Biden, Ventura adds: “I’m an independent. I’m not a Democrat or a Republican because I know they’re not the solution.”
Oddly enough, if Ventura were to run, this would mean there would betwoWWE Hall of Famers running for president in 2020. President Trump’s involvement in the pro wrestling business andWWEin particular dates all the way back to the late ’80s, as Trump was even featured as the host of WrestleManias IV and V in 1988 and 1989. The future president of the United States would later get physically involved during an appearance at WrestleMania 23 in 2007, which saw him shaving the head of WWE chairman Vince McMahon. Based on these experiences with the company, Trump was later inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame’s celebrity wing in 2013.
Longtime wrestling fans may know that this is not the first time a professional wrestler has teased running to become the president. In 1995, former pro wrestler Bob Backlund declared his candidacy for President of the United States on WWE programming. Of course, this was just part of a WWE storyline and nothing more, though Backlund did run unsuccessfully for Congress five years later.Wrestling legend Hulk Hoganwould also make headlines when he announced his “retirement” from wrestling and claimed he was running for President of the United States. Like Backlund, the candidacy wasn’t legitimate, as the announcement was later revealed to be a publicity stunt.
It remains to be seen if Ventura will ultimately end up representing the Green Party in the 2020 presidential election, but many of the responses to the former wrestler’s tweet seem to be in strong support of the potential campaign. Of course, there are others criticizing the concept as well, as you’ll see in any conversation when it comes to politics. While it’d be interesting to see Ventura run to say the least, it certainly couldn’t be that much more shocking than seeing the former host ofThe Celebrity Apprenticewinning the election in 2016. This information comes to us fromJesse Ventura on Twitter.
