Glenn Jacobs, Professional Wrestler and Libertarian, Wins His Race for Mayor
Burn victim. Demon. Half-brother to The Undertaker. Knox County Mayor.
The next mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, will be a Big Red Monster. Glenn Jacobs, better known to pro wrestling fans as Kane, secured a victory last night against Democratic challenger Linda Haney.
Prior to announcing his mayoral candidacy in April 2017, Jacobs spent a long and seasoned career as a WWE star. He has also had a long and seasoned career as a libertarian writer and activist. In a 2009 open letter to Chuck Norris, he encouraged the onscreen Texas ranger to back measures to "End the Fed," mirroring Ron Paul's denunciations of the Federal Reserve. (Jacobs can be seen on the bottom of the page wearing a "Ron Paul Revolution" shirt.) Jacobs' byline has appeared on several libertarian and quasi-libertarian websites, including the Future of Freedom Foundation, LewRockwell.com, and Rare. He spoke at the Young Americans for Liberty's annual conference in both 2016 and 2017, and he has made several television appearances with the likes of Kennedy and Andrew Napolitano. He also co-founded a pro-market organization called the Tennessee Liberty Alliance.
Though he ran as a Republican, Jacobs' campaign included many libertarian-friendly messages. During a May debate, for example, he argued that the Knox County government could not simply "incarcerate [its] way out of" the opioid crisis. After he entered the mayoral race last year, he told Rare that running for such offices is important to the liberty movement because change is most effective on the local level:
One hopes that Jacob's new job will not overshadow his other responsibilities. He has yet to make it clear whether he will continue to serve out his term as the devil's favorite demon.