Not exactly an October surprise, but former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura’s endorsement of fellow Gov. Tim Walz wasn’t expected.
Ventura, a former Navy Seal and onetime professional wrestler, called his endorsement of any major party candidate unprecedented. But the one-term governor cited Walz’s response to COVID-19 and the threat to abortion rights as reasons for changing tactics.
Ventura also cited the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol as a reason to take a stand.
“Our democracy is under attack,” Ventura said in a video released by the Walz campaign. “I took an oath 50 years ago as a Navy Seal to defend this country. I can’t stand with anyone or any party who cannot condemn the Jan. 6 insurrection.”
State GOP chair David Hann said Thursday that Walz should have rejected Ventura’s endorsement because of the former governor’s promotion of 9/11 conspiracy theories. Ventura in 2009 produced a TV series called “Conspiracy Theory” that included a segment on 9/11.
“This endorsement is an embarrassment and shows that Walz is losing and desperate for support,” Hann said in a statement. “As a Vietnam veteran, I am appalled that Gov. Tim Walz would seek and tout the endorsement of such a discredited conspiracy theorist.”
The endorsement comes a day after former President Donald Trump produced his own surprise — an endorsement of GOP nominee for governor Scott Jensen and GOP nominee for secretary of state Kim Crockett.
Walz and GOP nominee Scott Jensen will face off for the final time before the Nov. 8 election in a joint interview on MPR News at noon Friday.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with reaction from the state’s GOP chair.
Much deserved endorsement.
No surprise there. Of course he did.
Do you think he lives in his Mexico home for more than six months and a day? More power to the man if he can avoid our State taxes while still being a Kingpin in Minnesota politics.
Seeing as how Ventura actually successfully won an election in Minnesota and Trump never came close, I’d take Jesse’s.
What Minnesota office was Donald Trump running for?
One thing about Jesse is that he is plain spoken and to the point. He also picked highly qualified leaders for his team. Jensen has never led anything and neither have the hedge fund attorney or the political arsonist too extreme for the Center for the Center for American Experiment. Our state is doing very well in a challenging time. Not time for amateur hour.
Ventura got halfway through then bailed to take big paychecks as a wrestling ref, author, and celebrity interviewee. He did little, which was good, because his big push was to expand the sales tax, which thankfully failed. An oily, money grabbing insider, like the rest.
I think you are confusing Governor Ventura with Governor Palin
250 million in food fraud
Disastrous test results for kids
Large education gap
Large home ownership gap
I guess your version of doing well is different
Interesting interview. Will the Trumpers listen to Jesse or are they too far gone ?
To be technically accurate, Jesse was never a SEAL. He was UDT which was the precursor to the SEALs (sea, air, land) before they changed the job to include small arms combat units to be deployed in Vietnam. The UDT (underwater demolition team) was primarily swimmers and divers who planted explosives on enemy ships. Jesse was a competitive swimmer in high school.
Best physique, Roosevelt High School Class of ’69.
I don’t think there’s any evidence that he actually set foot in Vietnam. He was UDT, but the only records of his overseas service are of a basketball game in Subic Bay.
I would bet that the vast majority of Navy SEALs are voting republican.
I have to believe that being a Navy Seal is a higher honor than the usual commenters on Minn Post.
So, just what are you saying about Navy SEALs? Please be specific for the record.
Republicans have been caught flat footed by the Ventura endorsement of Governor Walz. They have tried to respond to it in several different ways without much success. They have tried to knock Jesse, pointing out that he is a conspiracy theorist who rejects the standard 9-11 view. The fact is, Democrats welcome the support of conspiracy theorists, they just resist the temptation to nominate one for president.
In some ways, Jesse was Trump before Trump. A big difference was that Jesse, unlike Trump, had substance. Jesse had been in government before and had given considerable thought to how Minnesota should be governed. In office, Jesse had the respect of legislators who found him difficult but somebody who ultimately was someone they could work with. The government worked fairly well under Jesse, and this is in contrast with Republicans who seem to believe that if they make government work well, it is a political defeat for them.
Jesse Ventura was the prototype that Donald Trump parroted. Jesse Ventura was a failure, his lack of foresight got Minnesota three things. First and second were limiting the cost of driving a car. This was accomplished by softening the cost of plates/tabs. And by removing vehicle emissions testing. Sounds like a Trump idea right there. The third great vision for Jesse Ventura was the simple sparkler for the Forth of July.
Not a great list, Jesse Ventura was a failure like Trump was a failure.
Trump heard he got the greatest state in the USA to act the idiot, Trump heard it loud and clear.
Removing a car emission.program that nothing to improve air quality would qualify as a win.
It’s mind-boggling to realize that the country would have been far better served with President Ventura than either Bush 43 or Trumpelini.
Based on the dismissive reaction of the various “conservative” commenters here, I’d say Walz should be playing up this Jesse endorsement much more than he is doing. Ventura may influence more MN independents than one realizes.
As I recall, Jesse put state funding of education on a sound basis. But the problem with that sort of thing is that unless such policies have sustained support, they tend to deteriorate over time. A lot of money is spent on education, and politicians always want to raid those funds. Education serves diverse populations, and what also tends to happen is that the politically powerful populations tend to do better in battles in the legislature, and that undermines what broad funding reform tries to do. Because Jesse was a third party governor, he had no natural allies in the legislature, so he had to deal with body all of whose members saw political advantage in thwarting him.