James Janos

James George Janos is an American politician actor and retired professional wrestler under the ring name of Jesse The Body Ventura After achieving fame in WWE he served as the 38th governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003 He was elected governor with the Reform Party and is the partys only candidate to win a major government office Ventura was a member of the United States Navy Underwater Demolition Team during the Vietnam War After leaving the military he embarked on a professional wrestling career as a heel from 1975 to 1986 taking the ring name Jesse the Body Ventura He had a lengthy tenure in WWE as a performer and color commentator and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004 In addition to wrestling Ventura pursued an acting career appearing in films such as Predator and The Running Man Ventura entered politics in 1991 when he was elected mayor of Brooklyn Park Minnesota a position he held until 1995 He was the Reform Party candidate in the 1998 Minnesota gubernatorial election running a lowbudget campaign centered on grassroots events and unusual advertising that urged citizens not to vote for politics as usual In a major upset Ventura defeated both the Democratic and Republican nominees Amid internal fights for control over the party Ventura left the Reform Party a year after taking office and served the remainder of his term as a member of the Independence Party of Minnesota Since holding public office Ventura has referred to himself as a statesman instead of a politician As governor Ventura oversaw reforms of Minnesotas property tax as well as the states first sales tax rebate Other initiatives he took included construction of the METRO Blue Line light rail in the MinneapolisSaint Paul metropolitan area and income tax cuts Ventura did not run for reelection After leaving office in 2003 he became a visiting fellow at Harvard Universitys John F Kennedy School of Government He has since hosted a number of political television shows on RT America and Ora TV and written several books Ventura has been a prominent figure in thirdparty politics having repeatedly floated the idea of running for President of the United States as an independent candidate In late April 2020 Ventura endorsed the Green Party in the 2020 presidential election and showed interest in running for its nomination He officially joined the Green Party of Minnesota on May 2 On May 7 he confirmed he would not run The Alaskan division of the Green Party nominated Ventura without his involvement causing the national party to disown it for abandoning its nominee Howie Hawkins Early life