Pro Wrestler ‘Kane’ Wins Election as Tennessee Mayor

A professional wrestler has won his race to become the Republican mayor of Knox County, Tennessee.

The hulking six-foot-eight, 300-pound Glenn Jacobs easily defeated his Democrat opponent on Thursday in the Knox County mayoral race, Knox News reported.

Speaking to supporters at Crowne Plaza in downtown Knoxville, Jacobs celebrated his win saying, “But this professional wrestler got into a no-holds-barred, last-man-standing match, and when the bell rung, he was victorious. We were victorious.”

The wrestler barely eked out a primary win when he beat Knox County Commissioner Brad Anders by a scant 24 votes in May’s primaries. But, he won convincingly in the general election held in the area that gave President Donald Trump a 24-point victory in 2016.

Jacobs, who embraced President Trump during his campaign for mayor, ran as a political outsider and as a pro-growth Republican who opposes tax hikes. The new mayor also has a reputation of leaning toward libertarian ideals. Between 2007 and 2014 he even wrote op-eds for the libertarian blog LewRockwell.com.

For instance, in one post on the national security, Jacobs wrote, “The idea that the government can protect us is patently absurd. All the government can do is to destroy our liberties while promoting the illusion of safety.”

During his 25-year wrestling career, Jacobs has been known as Kane the “Big Red Machine.” He is sometimes the villain and was often a fan favorite. Jacobs often hit the ring with his partner, The Undertaker, with whom he fought as “The Brothers of Destruction.”

“Millions of people have watched me perform live,” Jacobs says on his campaign website. “Who would have thought that all this could happen to a guy like me? Well, it could only happen in America.”

Jacobs runs a real estate and insurance business in Knox County and has lived in the area since 1995.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.