Veteran WWE superstar Kane, or Glenn Jacobs, as he’s known outside of the ring, is now the mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, having convincingly defeated Democratic nominee Linda Haney on Thursday, according to a report from WBIR .
The 51-year-old Jacobs, who ran under the Republican banner, received a total of 31,739 votes, easily allowing him to defeat Haney, who had only 16,611 votes when early voting and absentee results were counted at around 8:30 p.m, according to Bleacher Report . WBIR noted that this was a much larger win for Jacobs than his earlier Republican primary win, where he defeated Brad Anders by a mere 23 votes.
As stated in his campaign website , Glenn Jacobs had a seven-point plan that he intended to carry out in order to make Knox County akin to what former president Ronald Reagan described as the “shining city upon a hill.” These include keeping taxes low, renewing the focus on the quality of education, the creation of new jobs in the area, improved roads and infrastructure, “full and absolute” transparency, initiatives to foster a safer community, and a “fresh outlook on limited government.”
According to Bleacher Report , Jacobs is only the second prominent WWE wrestler to be elected as a public official after Jesse Ventura, who became mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, from 1991 to 1995, and was later the state’s governor from 1998 to 2002 before choosing not to run for a second term. Through his victory in Thursday’s mayoral election, Jacobs also achieved what current WWE colleague and fellow Republican Terrance Gerin, aka Rhyno, failed to pull off in 2016 when he ran for Michigan State Representative, but lost to Democratic candidate Abdullah Hammoud.
Congratulations to @KaneWWE on being elected Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee! https://t.co/I4E5YQhYCC
— WWE (@WWE) August 3, 2018
Despite focusing mainly on his budding political career for most of the past two years, Glenn Jacobs still found time to get in the ring and perform as Kane, though he was limited to occasional appearances as he continued to wind down a WWE career that has lasted for close to 25 years. He and Daniel Bryan reunited as Team Hell No ahead of the Extreme Rules pay-per-view in July, yet lost to the defending champion Bludgeon Brothers in a match for the SmackDown Live Tag Team titles.
Bleacher Report predicted that Kane’s recent appearances might mark the last time he appears as an active wrestler “for a while” as he prepares to further shift his attention to the world of politics.
As noted by WBIR, Glenn “Kane” Jacobs will take office as mayor of Knox County on September 1.
