10 Wrestlers Who Ran For Public Office
1. Jesse Ventura
For years, Jesse "The Body" Ventura was known as a bleached-blond heel turned wrestling announcer who then made the jump into acting. In the '90s, though, Ventura turned his attention toward politics, first becoming mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, then running for governor of the state in 1998.
Running as the nominee from the Reform Party, Ventura squeezed out a shocking victory, getting 36.99 percent of the vote to Republican Norm Coleman's 34.29 percent and Democrat Skip Humphrey's 28.09 percent. His election made headlines across the nation, not only because Ventura was a wrestler, but because he ran a successful third-party campaign with little money.
Ventura left the Reform Party in 2000, joining the Independence Party, then later made headlines during his much-maligned only term in office when he announced that he would not seek re-election. Though Ventura has repeatedly teased the idea of running for President of the U.S., he has been out of politics since leaving office in 2003.