View source for Biography:Jesse Ventura

{{Short description|American professional wrestler and 38th governor of Minnesota (born 1951)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Jesse Ventura
| image               = File:Jesse Ventura 1996.jpg
| caption             = Ventura in 1996
| order               = 38th Governor of Minnesota
| term_start          = January 4, 1999
| term_end            = January 6, 2003
| lieutenant          = Mae Schunk
| predecessor         = Arne Carlson
| successor           = Tim Pawlenty
| office1             = Mayor of Brooklyn Park
| term_start1         = January 11, 1991
| term_end1           = January 13, 1995
| predecessor1        = James Krautkremer
| successor1          = Grace Arbogast
| birth_name          = James George Janos
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1951|7|15}}
| birth_place         = Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
| occupation          = {{hlist|Politician|actor|professional wrestler|television presenter|author|commentator}}
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[Social:Independent politician|Independent]] (1969–1998, 2003–2020, 2020–present)
| otherparty          = Green (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |last=DeAngelo |first=Dominic |date=2022-07-17 |title=Jesse Ventura Teases Presidential Run With Third Political Party |url=https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2022/07/jesse-ventura-teases-presidential-run-with-third-political-party/ |access-date=2022-08-24 |website=WrestlingInc.com |language=en-US}}</ref><br/>Independence (2000–2003)<br/>Reform (1998–2000)
| education           = North Hennepin Community College
| allegiance          = {{USA}}
| branch              = {{flag|United States Navy}}
| serviceyears        = 1969–1975
| rank                = [[File:PO3 collar.png|25px]] Petty officer third class
| battles             = Vietnam War
| mawards             = [[File:National Defense Service Medal ribbon.svg|border|20px]] National Defense Service Medal 
| module              = {{Infobox professional wrestler
|child        = yes
|names        = Jesse "The Body" Ventura<ref name=OWOW/><ref name=Cage>{{cite web |url=https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=53 |title=Jesse Ventura " Wrestlers Database " CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database |website=www.cagematch.net |access-date=December 23, 2019}}</ref><br/>Surf Ventura<ref name="Jesse Ventura's Bio">{{cite web|url=https://www.wrestlingdata.com/index.php?befehl=bios&wrestler=922|title=Jesse Ventura's Profile|publisher=Wrestlingdata.com|access-date=March 24, 2021}}</ref>
|height       = 6 ft 2 in<ref name="WWEbio"/>
|weight       = 245 lb<ref name="WWEbio"/>
|billed       = San Diego, California<br/> Brooklyn Park, Minnesota<ref name="WWEbio"/>
|trainer      = Eddie Sharkey<ref name=OWOW/>
|debut        = 1974<ref name=Cage/>
|retired      = 1986<ref name=Cage/>
|website      = {{URL|www.wwe.com/superstars/jesseventura|WWE.com profile}}
}}
| spouse              = {{marriage|Theresa Larson Masters|1975}}
| children            = 2
| module2             = {{Listen
|embed = yes
|title = Jesse Ventura's voice
|filename =
|description= Ventura speaks on Talks at Google<br />Recorded May 2011
}}
}}

'''Jesse Ventura''' (born '''James George Janos'''; July 15, 1951) is an American politician, actor, and retired professional wrestler. After achieving fame in the [[Company:WWE|World Wrestling Federation]] (WWF, now WWE), he served as the 38th governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003. He was elected governor with the Reform Party and is the party's only candidate to win a major government office.

Ventura was a member of the United States Navy [[Organization:Underwater Demolition Team|Underwater Demolition Team]] during the Vietnam War.<ref name="Military People: Jesse Ventura">{{cite web|url=http://www.militaryhub.com/military-people.cfm?id=42|title=More than Military|publisher=MilitaryHub.com|access-date=July 15, 2011|archive-date=December 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224125801/https://www.militaryhub.com/military-people?id=42|url-status=dead}}</ref> After leaving the military, he embarked on a professional wrestling career from 1975 to 1986, taking the ring name "Jesse 'the Body' Ventura". He had a lengthy tenure in the WWF/WWE as a performer and color commentator and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004.<ref name=OWOW>{{cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/bios/j/jesse-ventura/|title=OWOW profile|access-date=December 29, 2012|publisher=Online World of Wrestling}}</ref> 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 low-budget campaign centered on grassroots events and unusual ads 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 governor as a member of the Independence Party of Minnesota. Since holding public office, Ventura has called himself a "statesman" rather than a politician.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.inquirer.com/archives/ | title=Archives &#124; The Philadelphia Inquirer | website=inquirer.com | access-date=December 23, 2019}}</ref>

As governor, Ventura oversaw reforms of Minnesota's property tax as well as the state's first sales tax rebate. Other initiatives he took included construction of the METRO Blue Line light rail in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area and income tax cuts.<ref>{{cite web|last=McCallum|first=Laura|title=The political legacy of Jesse Ventura|url=http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200212/17_mccalluml_venturalegacy/|publisher=minnesota.publicradio.org|access-date=January 12, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Khoo|first=Michael|title=The days of Jesse|url=http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200212/16_khoom_ventura/|publisher=minnesota.publicradio.org|access-date=January 12, 2013}}</ref><ref name=budgetmess /> Ventura did not run for reelection. After leaving office in 2003, he became a visiting fellow at [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]]'s 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.<ref>{{cite news|last=Mettler|first=Katie|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/06/08/jesse-venturas-new-russian-state-tv-show-i-am-working-for-the-enemy-of-mainstream-media-now|title=Jesse Ventura's new Russian state TV show: 'I am working for the enemy of mainstream media now'|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 8, 2017|access-date=July 5, 2020}}</ref> Ventura has been a prominent figure in third-party politics, having repeatedly floated the idea of running for President of the United States as an independent candidate.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tmz.com/2018/11/28/jesse-ventura-running-president-trump-wrestlemania/|title=Jesse Ventura Considering Running For President, 'Trump will not Have a Chance!'|work=TMZ|access-date=December 2, 2018}}</ref>

In late April 2020, Ventura endorsed the Green Party in the 2020 presidential election and showed interest in running for its nomination.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Bowden|first=John|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/494875-jesse-ventura-says-hes-testing-the-waters-for-green-party-bid-for-president|title=Jesse Ventura says he's 'testing the waters' for Green Party bid for president|date=April 27, 2020|work=The Hill|access-date=April 28, 2020}}</ref> He officially joined the Green Party of Minnesota on May 2.<ref name="joins-green">{{cite web |url=https://www.mngreens.org/jesse_ventura_joins_the_minnesota_green_party |last=Crews |first=Trahern |title=Jesse Ventura Joins the Minnesota Green Party |date=May 2, 2020 |access-date=May 2, 2020 |archive-date=May 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200505082020/https://www.mngreens.org/jesse_ventura_joins_the_minnesota_green_party |url-status=dead }}</ref> On May 7, he confirmed he would not run.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/05/08/former-gov-jesse-ventura-announces-he-will-not-be-running-for-president/|title=Former Gov. Jesse Ventura Announces He Will Not Be Running For President|date=May 8, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fox9.com/news/former-minnesota-governor-jesse-ventura-announces-he-will-not-run-for-president|title=Former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura announces he will not run for president|date=May 8, 2020|work=Fox 9 KMSP|access-date=May 8, 2020}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mustreadalaska.com/green-party-of-alaska-nominates-jesse-ventura-for-president/|title=Green Party of Alaska nominates Jesse Ventura for president|first=Suzanne|last=Downing|work=Must Read Alaska|date=September 1, 2020|access-date=February 23, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://mustreadalaska.com/alaska-green-party-decertified-by-national-over-going-rogue/|title=Alaska Green Party decertified by national over going rogue|first=Suzanne|last=Downing|work=Must Read Alaska|date=January 11, 2021|access-date=February 23, 2021}}</ref>

==Early life==
Ventura was born James George Janos on July 15, 1951, in Minneapolis, Minnesota,<ref name="National Governors Association">{{cite web|url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_minnesota/col2-content/main-content-list/title_ventura_jesse.html |title=National Governors Association Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura biography |publisher=National Governors Association |access-date=August 27, 2015}}</ref><ref name=A&E>{{cite web|title=Jesse Ventura Biography|url=http://www.biography.com/people/jesse-ventura-9542225|access-date=January 22, 2015|agency=Bio.|publisher=A&E Television Networks, LLC|archive-date=February 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204185047/https://www.biography.com/people/jesse-ventura-9542225|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=CohenAmazon>Cohen, Daniel. ''Jesse Ventura''. 2001. Brookfield, CT: Twenty-first Century Books. p. 26. Retrieved December 21, 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-7613-1905-4}}</ref> the son of George William Janos and his wife, Bernice Martha (née Lenz). Both his parents were [[Social:World War II|World War II]] veterans. His mother was a nurse and father worked for the Minneapolis Street Department.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Interview with Jesse Ventura |url=https://www.maxraskin.com/interviews/jesse-ventura |access-date=2023-07-02 |website=Interviews with Max Raskin |language=en-US}}</ref>

Ventura has an older brother who served in the Vietnam War. Ventura has described himself as Slovak since his father's parents were from Slovakia; his mother was of German descent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wargs.com/political/ventura.html |title=Ancestry of Jesse Ventura |publisher=Wargs.com |access-date=October 20, 2008}}</ref><ref>April 1, 2008, in Larry King interview with Ventura on NBC<!-- Bot generated title --></ref> Ventura was raised as a Lutheran. Born in South Minneapolis "by the Lake Street bridge", he attended Cooper Elementary School, Sanford Junior High School, and graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1969. Roosevelt High School inducted Ventura into its first hall of fame in September 2014.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

Ventura served in the United States Navy from December 1, 1969, to September 10, 1975, during the Vietnam War, but did not see combat. He graduated in BUD/S class 58 in December 1970 and was part of [[Organization:Underwater Demolition Team|Underwater Demolition Team]] 12.<ref name="Military People: Jesse Ventura"/><ref name="http">{{cite news|url=http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/1130195.html |title=Ventura discloses he didn't see combat in Vietnam War |work=Star Tribune|location=Minneapolis|date=January 29, 2002|agency=Associated Press |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20020203035901/http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/1130195.html |archive-date = February 3, 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://navyseals.com/ns-overview/notable-seals/jesse-ventura/|title=Jesse Ventura|work=Navy SEALs|access-date=November 27, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.militaryhub.com/military-people?id=42|title=Military People|website=www.militaryhub.com|access-date=May 3, 2019|archive-date=December 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224125801/https://www.militaryhub.com/military-people?id=42|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Ventura has frequently referred to his military career in public statements and debates.<ref name="news.minnesota.publicradio.org"/><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/31/us/the-1998-campaign-minnesota-candidates-are-neck-neck-and-neck-in-governor-s-race.html?pagewanted=1 |work=The New York Times |title=The 1998 Campaign: Minnesota; Candidates Are Neck, Neck and Neck in Governor's Race |first=Pam |last=Belluck |date=October 31, 1998 |access-date=May 6, 2010}}</ref><ref name="web.archive.org">{{cite news|url=http://www.startribune.com/st/qview.cgi?template=metro_a_cache&slug=text05&online_date=05-April-2001 |title=Ventura-Anderson transcript |work=Star Tribune|location=Minneapolis|date=April 5, 2001 |access-date=June 13, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20020210172032/http://www.startribune.com/st/qview.cgi?template=metro_a_cache&slug=text05&online_date=05-April-2001 |archive-date = February 10, 2002}}</ref> He was criticized by hunters and conservationists for saying in a 2001 interview with the Minneapolis ''Star Tribune'', "Until you have hunted men, you haven't hunted yet."<ref name="web.archive.org"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=93626&page=1 |title=Jesse Ventura Hunting Remarks Draw Fire |work=ABC News|access-date=June 13, 2010}}</ref>

===Post-Navy===
Near the end of his Navy service, Ventura began to spend time with the "South Bay" chapter of the Mongols Motorcycle Club in San Diego. He would ride onto Naval Base Coronado on his [[Company:Harley-Davidson|Harley-Davidson]] wearing his Mongol "colors". According to Ventura, he was a "full-patch" member of the club and third-in-command of his chapter, but never had any problems with the authorities.<ref name="Cohen">{{cite book |title=Jesse Ventura |last=Cohen |first=Daniel|year=2001 |publisher=Lerner Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-7613-1905-4|pages=30–32 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e2UxwnHvNMAC&q=jesse%20ventura%20mongols&pg=PT18 |access-date=December 12, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2002/May-12-Sun-2002/news/18724079.html |title=Outlaw Gangs: Northern Nevada eyes biker enmity |publisher=Reviewjournal.com |date=May 12, 2002 |access-date=June 13, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Labar |first=Justin |url=http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/181959-complete-interview-transcript-with-jesse-ventura |title=Complete Interview Transcript With Jesse Ventura |publisher=Wrestlezone.com |date=May 14, 2010 |access-date=June 13, 2010}}</ref> His biker nickname was "Superman".<ref name="Marks of Mayhem & Murder">[https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1075&context=buffaloipjournal Marks of Mayhem & Murder: When a Few Bad "Mongols" Spoil the Bunch, Should the Go Bunch, Should the Government Seize a Motorcycle Association Association's Registered Trademark?] (January 1, 2009) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027175446/https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1075&context=buffaloipjournal |date=October 27, 2020 }}</ref> In the fall of 1974, Ventura left the bike club to return to the Twin Cities. Shortly after that, the Mongols entered into open warfare with their biker rivals, the Hells Angels.<ref name="Cohen"/> In November 2018, Ventura testified as an expert witness on behalf of the Mongols in a federal racketeering trial in Santa Ana, California, defending the club against the government's allegations characterizing the Mongols as a criminal enterprise. He testified that he remained an inactive member of the Mongols and called his time as an active member of the club's San Diego chapter "a stepping stone I needed to make the transition from military life back to civilian life. I owe them for being there for me when the rest of the world wasn't".<ref name="Ventura defends Mongols">[https://www.ocregister.com/2018/11/28/former-minnesota-gov-jesse-ventura-defends-mongols-motorcycle-club-in-federal-court-in-orange-county/ Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura defends Mongols Motorcycle Club in federal court in Orange County] Sean Emery, ''Orange County Register'' (November 28, 2018) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181129112844/https://www.ocregister.com/2018/11/28/former-minnesota-gov-jesse-ventura-defends-mongols-motorcycle-club-in-federal-court-in-orange-county/ |date=November 29, 2018 }}</ref>

Ventura attended North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, during the mid-1970s on the G.I. Bill.<ref name="Cohen"/><ref name=":2" /> At the same time, he began weightlifting and wrestling and became a member of the Japan Karate Association.<ref name=":2" /> He was a bodyguard for The Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead for a time before entering professional wrestling and adopting the wrestling name Jesse Ventura.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/on2/elections/ventura.html Jesse Ventura] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130821130917/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/on2/elections/ventura.html |date=August 21, 2013}} PBS</ref><ref name=":2" />

==Professional wrestling career==

===Early career===
Ventura created the stage name Jesse "The Body" Ventura to go with the persona of a bully-ish beach bodybuilder, picking the name "Ventura" from a map as part of his "bleach blond from California" gimmick.<ref name=OWOW/> As a wrestler, Ventura performed as a heel, a decision he attributes to his ability to be more creative as a villain.<ref name=":2" /> He resurrected Gorgeous George's old motto of "Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!", which he emblazoned on his t-shirts. Much of this flamboyant persona was adapted from "Superstar" Billy Graham, a charismatic and popular performer during the 1970s.<ref name=OWOW/><ref name=mol>John Molinaro, ''The Top 100 Pro Wrestlers of All Time'', (Winding Stair Press: 2002), page 199</ref> Years later, as a broadcaster, Ventura made a running joke out of claiming that Graham stole all his ring attire ideas from him.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

In 1975, Ventura made his debut in the Central States territory, before moving to the Pacific Northwest, where he wrestled for promoter Don Owen as Jesse "The Great" Ventura.<ref name=OWOW/><ref name=mol/> During his stay in {{wipe|Portland, Oregon}}, he had notable feuds with Dutch Savage and Jimmy Snuka and won the Pacific Northwest Wrestling title twice (once from each wrestler) and the tag team title five times (twice each with Bull Ramos and "Playboy" Buddy Rose, and once with Jerry Oates). He later moved to his hometown promotion, the American Wrestling Association in Minnesota and began teaming with Adrian Adonis as the "East-West Connection" in 1979. In his RF Video shoot in 2012, he revealed that shortly after he arrived in the AWA he was given the nickname "the Body" by Verne Gagne.<ref name="WWEbio">{{cite web |url=https://www.wwe.com/superstars/jesseventura |title=Jesse Ventura |publisher=[[Company:WWE|WWE]] |access-date=June 16, 2019}}</ref><ref name=mol/> The duo won the AWA World Tag Team Championship on July 20, 1980, on a forfeit when Gagne, one-half of the tag team champions along with Mad Dog Vachon, failed to show up for a title defense in Denver, Colorado.<ref name=OWOW/> The duo held the belts for nearly a year, losing to "The High Flyers" (Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell).<ref name=OWOW/>

===Move to the WWF, retirement, and commentary===
[[File:Jesse Ventura, circa 1982.png|thumb|284x284px|Ventura, {{Circa|1982}}]]
Shortly after losing the belts, the duo moved on to the World Wrestling Federation, where they were managed by Freddie Blassie.<ref name=OWOW/> Although the duo was unable to capture the World Tag Team Championship, both Adonis and Ventura became singles title contenders, each earning several title shots at World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund.<ref name=OWOW/>

Ventura continued to wrestle until September 1984 after three back-to-back losses to world champion Hulk Hogan, when blood clots in his lungs effectively ended his in-ring career. He claimed that the clots were a result of his exposure to [[Biology:Agent Orange|Agent Orange]] during his time in Vietnam.<ref name=OWOW/><ref name=slambio>{{cite web|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Bios/ventura_jesse.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130101121738/http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Bios/ventura_jesse.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 1, 2013|title=Jesse Ventura's bio|publisher=SLAM! Wrestling|access-date=June 26, 2009|date=January 21, 2006|author=Milner, John M.}}</ref> Ventura returned to the ring in 1985, forming a tag-team with Randy Savage and Savage's manager (and real-life wife) Miss Elizabeth. Often after their televised matches Ventura taunted and challenged fellow commentator Bruno Sammartino, but nothing ever came of this.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

Ventura participated in a six-man tag-team match in December 1985 when he, Roddy Piper, and Bob Orton defeated Hillbilly Jim, Uncle Elmer, and Cousin Luke in a match broadcast on ''Saturday Night's Main Event IV''. The tag match against the Hillbillies came about after Piper and Orton interrupted Elmer's wedding ceremony on the previous edition of the show; Ventura, who later claimed that he was under instruction from fellow commentator and WWF owner [[Biography:Vince McMahon|Vince McMahon]] to "bury them", insulted Elmer and his wife during commentary of a real wedding ceremony at the Meadowlands Arena, by proclaiming when they kissed: "It looks like two carp in the middle of the Mississippi River going after the same piece of corn." According to Ventura, the wedding was real, for at that time the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board would not allow the WWF to stage a fake wedding in the state of New Jersey, so Stan Frazier (Uncle Elmer) and his fiancee had agreed to have a real in-ring wedding.<ref name=OWOW/>

After a failed comeback bid, Ventura hosted his own talk segment on the WWF's ''All Star Wrestling'' TV program called "The Body Shop", in much the same heel style as "Piper's Pit", though the setting was a mock gym (when Ventura was unavailable, "The Body Shop" was often hosted by Don Muraco). He began to do color commentary on television for ''All-Star Wrestling'', replacing Angelo Mosca, and later ''Superstars of Wrestling'', initially alongside Vince McMahon and the semi-retired Sammartino, and then just with McMahon after Sammartino's departure from the WWF in early 1988. Ventura most notably co-hosted ''Saturday Night's Main Event'' with McMahon, the first six WrestleManias (five of which were alongside Gorilla Monsoon), and most of the WWF's pay-per-views at the time with Monsoon, with the lone exception for Ventura being the first SummerSlam, in which he served as the guest referee during the main event.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

Ventura's entertaining commentary style was an extension of his wrestling persona, i.e., a "heel", as he was partial to the villains, something new and different at the time. McMahon, who was always looking for ways of jazzing things up, came up with the idea of Ventura doing heel commentary at a time when most commentators, including McMahon himself, openly favored the fan favorites.<ref name=OWOW/>

But Ventura still occasionally gave credit where it was due, praising the athleticism of fan favorites such as Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage, who was championed by Ventura for years, even when he was a face, a point Ventura regularly made on-air to McMahon and Monsoon. Occasionally he would even acknowledge mistakes made by the heels, including those made by his personal favorites such as Savage or wrestlers managed by heels Bobby Heenan and Jimmy Hart.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

One notable exception to this rule was the WrestleMania VI Ultimate Challenge title for title match between WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and the WWF Intercontinental Champion, The Ultimate Warrior. Since they were both fan favorites, Ventura took a neutral position in his commentary, even praising Hogan's display of sportsmanship at the end of the match when he handed over the WWF Championship belt to the Warrior after he lost the title, stating that Hogan was going out like a true champion. During the match, however, which was also the last match at Wrestlemania he called, Ventura did voice his pleasure when both broke the rules, at one point claiming, "This is what I like. Let the two goody two-shoes throw the rule book out and get nasty." Ventura's praise of Hogan's action was unusual for him, because he regularly rooted against Hogan during his matches, usually telling fellow commentator Monsoon after Hogan had won a championship match at a Wrestlemania that he might "come out of retirement and take this dude out".

Hogan and Ventura were at one point close friends,<ref name="VBot1">Jesse Ventura, "I Ain't Got Time To Bleed pg. 108</ref> but Ventura abruptly ended the friendship in 1994 after he discovered, during his lawsuit against McMahon, that Hogan was the one who had told McMahon about Ventura's attempt to form a labor union in 1986 before WrestleMania 2.<ref name="VBot1" /> After a dispute with McMahon over the use of his image for promoting a [[Company:Sega|Sega]] product, Ventura left the WWF in August 1990.

Ventura later served as a radio announcer for a few National Football League teams, among them the Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.<ref name=OWOW/>

In February 1992 at SuperBrawl II, Ventura joined World Championship Wrestling as a commentator. WCW President Eric Bischoff ultimately released him for allegedly falling asleep during a ''WCW Worldwide'' TV taping at Disney MGM Studios in July 1994, but it has been speculated that the move may have had more to do with Hogan's arrival shortly before.<ref name=OWOW/>

===Litigation===
In 1987, while negotiating his contract as a WWF commentator, Ventura waived his rights to royalties on videotape sales when he was falsely told that only feature performers received such royalties. In November 1991, having discovered that other non-feature performers received royalties, Ventura brought an action for fraud, misappropriation of publicity rights, and [[Social:Quantum meruit|quantum meruit]] in Minnesota state court against Titan Sports, asking for $2&nbsp;million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=2000000|start_year=1991}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) in royalties based on a fair market value share.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wrestlingforum.com/classic-wrestling/2001906-wrestling-observer-1994-a-2.html|title=Wrestling Observer 1994 – Page 2 – Wrestling Forum: WWE, Impact Wrestling, Indy Wrestling, Women of Wrestling Forums|website=www.wrestlingforum.com|access-date=May 3, 2019}}</ref> Titan moved the case to federal court, and Ventura won an $801,333 jury [[Social:Verdict|verdict]] on the last claim. In addition, the judge awarded him $8,625 in back pay for all non-video WWF merchandising featuring Ventura. The judgment was affirmed on appeal, and the case,''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-8th-circuit/1387808.html |title=Ventura v. Titan Sports, Inc |access-date=January 19, 2017}}</ref> ''65 F.3d 725 (8th Cir.1995), is an important result in the law of restitution. As a result, Ventura's commentary is removed on most releases from WWE Home Video.<ref>{{cite news |last=Cohen |first=Eric |url=http://prowrestling.about.com/od/interviews/a/jesseventurainterview_3.htm |title=Jesse Ventura Interview |newspaper=Liveabout |publisher=Prowrestling.about.com |access-date=January 14, 2015 |archive-date=February 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224123352/http://prowrestling.about.com/od/interviews/a/jesseventurainterview_3.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Return to the WWF/WWE===
In mid-1999, Ventura reappeared on WWF television during his term as governor of Minnesota, acting as the special guest referee for main event of SummerSlam held in Minneapolis.<ref name=OWOW/> Ventura continued his relationship with the WWF by performing commentary for Vince McMahon's short-lived [[Company:XFL (2001)|XFL]].<ref name=OWOW/> On the June 4, 2001, episode of ''Raw'' which aired live from Minnesota, Ventura appeared to overrule McMahon's authority and approve a WWF Championship match between then-champion Stone Cold Steve Austin and Chris Jericho. On the March 20, 2003, episode of ''SmackDown!,'' Ventura appeared in a taped interview to talk about the match between McMahon and Hogan at WrestleMania XIX.<ref name=OWOW/> On March 13, 2004, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and the following night at WrestleMania XX, he approached the ring to interview Donald Trump, who had a front-row seat at the event.<ref name=OWOW/> Trump affirmed that Ventura would receive his moral and financial support were he to ever reenter politics. Alluding to the 2008 election, Ventura boldly announced, "I think we oughta put a wrestler in the White House in 2008!". Ventura was guest host on the November 23, 2009, episode of ''Raw,'' during which he retained his heel persona by siding with the number one contender Sheamus over WWE Champion John Cena. This happened while he confronted Cena about how it was unfair that Cena always got a title shot in the WWE, while Ventura never did during his WWE career. After that, Sheamus attacked Cena and put him through a table. Ventura then made the match a Table match at TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs. During the show, for the first time in nearly 20 years, McMahon joined Ventura ringside to provide match commentary together.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

==Acting career==
Near the end of his wrestling career, Ventura began an acting career. He appeared in the movie ''Predator'' (1987), whose cast included future California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and future Kentucky gubernatorial candidate Sonny Landham.<ref name=OWOW/> Ventura became close friends with Schwarzenegger during the production of ''Predator''. He appeared in two episodes of ''Zorro'' filmed in Madrid, Spain, in 1991. He had a starring role in the 1990 sci-fi movie ''Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe''. He had supporting roles in ''The Running Man'', ''No Holds Barred'', ''Thunderground'', ''Demolition Man'', ''Repossessed'', ''Ricochet'', ''The Master of Disguise'' (in which he steals the Liberty Bell), Ready to Rumble, and ''Batman & Robin''—the first and last of these also starring Schwarzenegger. Ventura made a cameo appearance in ''Major League II'' as "White Lightning". He appeared as a self-help guru (voice only) in ''The Ringer'', trying to turn Johnny Knoxville into a more confident worker. Ventura had a cameo in ''The X-Files'' episode "Jose Chung's ''From Outer Space''" as a Man in Black alongside fellow 'MiB' Alex Trebek. In 2008, Ventura was in the independent comedy ''Woodshop'', starring as high school shop teacher Mr. Madson. The film was released September 7, 2010.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

===Filmography===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Title !! Role
|-
| rowspan="2" |1987 || ''Predator'' || Blain Cooper
|-
| ''The Running Man'' || 'Captain Freedom'
|-
| rowspan="2" |1989 || ''Thunderground'' || The Man
|-
| ''No Holds Barred'' || Himself
|-
| rowspan="2" |1990 || ''Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe'' || Abraxas
|-
| ''Repossessed'' || Himself
|-
| rowspan="2" |1991 || ''Tagteam'' || Bobby Youngblood
|-
| ''Ricochet'' || Jake Chewalski
|-
| rowspan="2" |1993 || ''Living and Working in Space: The Countdown Has Begun'' || DMV Testee
|-
| ''Demolition Man'' || CryoCon
|-
|| 1994 || ''Major League II'' || Himself
|-
| 1997 || ''Batman & Robin'' || Arkham Asylum Guard
|-
| 2000 || ''Ready to Rumble'' || Himself
|-
| 2001 || ''Joe Somebody'' || Himself
|-
| 2002 || ''The Master of Disguise'' || Himself
|-
| 2005 || ''The Ringer'' || Motivational Speaker
|-
| 2008 || ''Borders'' || Conrad
|-
| 2010 || ''Woodshop'' || Mr. Madson
|-
| 2014 || ''The Drunk'' || Governor Littleton
|}

===Other media===
Ventura was a bodyguard for The Rolling Stones in the late 1970s and 1980s. Its lead singer, Mick Jagger, said of him, "He's done us proud, hasn't he? He's been fantastic."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19990216&id=l0QfAAAAIBAJ&pg=5197,3671972&hl=en|title=Herald-Journal – Google News Archive Search|access-date=November 27, 2015}}</ref>

In the late 1980s, Ventura appeared in a series of Miller Lite commercials.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/iLhYcJR67j0 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20201110072808/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLhYcJR67j0&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Citation|title=Lite-A-Mania Ad – Miller Lite|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLhYcJR67j0|language=en|access-date=May 29, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/eiG_xEDTxRI Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20200816195924/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiG_xEDTxRI&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Citation|title=Jesse "The Body" Ventura Miller Lite Commercial (1988)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiG_xEDTxRI|language=en|access-date=May 29, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/hU-foTLeQXU Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20201110072746/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU-foTLeQXU&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Citation|title=Jesse Ventura: Miller Lite commercial (1989)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU-foTLeQXU|language=en|access-date=May 29, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In 1989, Ventura co-hosted the four episodes of the DiC Entertainment children's program ''Record Breakers: World of Speed'' along with Gary Apple.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dicentertainment.com/dic_shows.html#MShows|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040401135740/http://www.dicentertainment.com/dic_shows.html#MShows|archive-date=April 1, 2004|title=DiC Shows|date=April 1, 2004|access-date=December 2, 2011}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=HFBTUhnc9DwC&pg=PA310 The WrestleCrap Book of Lists!] By R. D. Reynolds, Blade Braxton, page 310</ref> In 1991, the pilot episode for ''Tag Team'', a television program about two ex-professional wrestlers turned police officers, starred Ventura and Roddy Piper.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/tag-team/|title=Tag Team – the lost pilot episode starring Roddy Piper and Jesse Ventura!|publisher=I-Mockery.com|access-date=December 2, 2011}}</ref>

Ventura also co-hosted the short-lived syndicated game show ''The Grudge Match'' alongside sportscaster Steve Albert.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

Between 1995 and 1998, Ventura had radio call-in shows on KFAN 1130 and KSTP 1500 in Minneapolis–Saint Paul. He also had a brief role on the television soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'' in 1999.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Keck |first=William |date=July 10, 2000 |title=With Gov. Ventura, Call It 'The Young and the Wrestling' |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-10-ca-50298-story.html |access-date=January 27, 2023}}</ref>

Ventura has been criticized by the press for profiting from his heightened popularity. He was hired as a television analyst for the failed [[Company:XFL (2001)|XFL]] football league in 2001, served as a referee at a WWF SummerSlam match in 1999, and published several books during his tenure as governor. On his weekly radio show, he often criticized the media for focusing on these deals rather than his policy proposals.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200201/28_khoom_jessereview/ |title=MPR: Ventura – the year in review |publisher=News.minnesota.publicradio.org |access-date=October 20, 2008}}</ref>

From 2009 to 2012, TruTV aired three seasons of the television series ''Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura''.<ref>{{Citation|title=Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura|date=December 2, 2009|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1572498/?ref_=ttep_ep_tt|type=Documentary|publisher=A. Smith & Co. Productions|access-date=October 27, 2021}}</ref>

Ventura had a guest spot on an episode of the 2012 rebooted ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' animated series on Nickelodeon.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

In 2013, Ventura announced a new show, ''Jesse Ventura: Uncensored'', which launched on January 27, 2014,<ref>{{cite web|title=Jesse Ventura is back with a new show on oratv|url=http://www.ora.tv/mediaroom/view/jesse-ventura-is-back-with-a-new-show-on-oratv|date=January 27, 2014|access-date=March 24, 2016}}</ref> and later renamed ''Off the Grid'', and aired until 2016 on [[Ora TV]], an online [[Engineering:Video on demand|video on demand]] network founded by Larry King.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://naples.floridaweekly.com/news/2014-10-30/Arts_%28and%29_Entertainment_News/CELEBRITY_EXTRA.html|title=Celebrity Extra|last=Elavsky|first=Cindy|publisher=King Features|date=October 30, 2014|access-date=November 6, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108000828/http://naples.floridaweekly.com/news/2014-10-30/Arts_%28and%29_Entertainment_News/CELEBRITY_EXTRA.html|archive-date=November 8, 2014}}</ref>

In 2017, Ventura became the host of the show ''The World According to Jesse'' on RT America;<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/06/08/jesse-venturas-new-russian-state-tv-show-i-am-working-for-the-enemy-of-mainstream-media-now/| title = Jesse Ventura's new Russian state TV show: 'I am working for the enemy of mainstream media now'| newspaper = {{wipe|The Washington Post}}}}</ref> the series ended in March 2022 when RT programming produced by its production partner Ora TV was suspended after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2022/03/directv-drops-rt-america-russia-ukraine-1234968328/|title=DirecTV Drops RT America In Wake Of Russian Invasion Of Ukraine; Ora Media Pauses Production On Dennis Miller, William Shatner Shows|last=Johnson|first=Ted|date=March 1, 2022|website=Deadline Hollywood|publisher=Penske Media Group|access-date=March 1, 2022}}</ref> RT America ceased operations on March 3, 2022.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Darcy |first=Oliver|title=RT America ceases productions and lays off most of its staff |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/03/media/rt-america-layoffs/index.html |access-date=March 3, 2022|date=March 3, 2022|work=CNN}}</ref>

==Political career==

===Mayor of Brooklyn Park===
After his departure from the WWF, Ventura took a former high school teacher's advice and ran for mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, in 1990.<ref name="VBot2">Jake Tapper, "Body Slam: The Jesse Ventura Story," pp. 105–108</ref> He defeated the city's 18-year incumbent mayor and served from 1991 to 1995.<ref name="VElec">{{cite web|url=http://www.morris.umn.edu/register/article.php?volume=11&issue=5&section=feature&index=2 |title=Mayor of Brooklyn Park, Jesse Ventura: Reform endorsed candidate |publisher=Morris.umn.edu |author=Carly Skorczewski |date=October 29, 1998 |volume=11 |issue=5 |access-date=October 20, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107061557/http://www.morris.umn.edu/register/article.php?volume=11&issue=5&section=feature&index=2|archive-date=January 7, 2009}}</ref> Many professional wrestling personalities have entered politics, but Ventura is among the few, including Jim Barnett and Antonio Inoki, to have remained active in wrestling while serving in a government role: he was simultaneously mayor and WCW's color commentator through much of his mayoral tenure.

===Governor of Minnesota===
[[File:Jesse Ventura 2000.jpg|thumb|right|Ventura in the Minnesota House of Representatives Chamber in 2000]]
Ventura ran for governor of Minnesota in 1998 as the Reform Party of Minnesota nominee (he later joined the Independence Party of Minnesota when the Reform Party broke from its association with the Reform Party of the United States of America). His campaign consisted of a combination of aggressive [[Social:Grassroots|grassroots]] events organized in part by his campaign manager Doug Friedline and original television spots, designed by quirky adman Bill Hillsman, using the phrase "Don't vote for politics as usual." He spent considerably less than his opponents (about $300,000) and was a pioneer in his using the Internet as a medium of reaching out to voters in a political campaign.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.howeypolitics.com/2009/06/18/brian-howey-time-to-take-over-the-indiana-libertarian-party/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090818140106/http://www.howeypolitics.com/2009/06/18/brian-howey-time-to-take-over-the-indiana-libertarian-party/|archive-date=August 18, 2009|title=Time to Take Over the Indiana Libertarian Party|author=Howey, Brian|access-date=June 26, 2009|date=June 18, 2009}} Retrieved from Internet Archive January 17, 2014.</ref>

He won the election in November 1998, narrowly and unexpectedly defeating the major-party candidates, Republican St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman and Democratic-Farmer-Labor Attorney General Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III. During his victory speech, Ventura famously declared, "We shocked the world!"<ref>Fisher, Marc. "[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/keyraces98/stories/ventura110498.htm Jesse 'The Body' Wins Minn. Gubernatorial Race]." ''Washington Post''. November 4, 1998. Retrieved March 5, 2016.</ref> After his election, bumper stickers and T-shirts bearing the slogan "My governor can beat up your governor" appeared in Minnesota. The nickname "Jesse 'The Mind'" (from a last-minute Hillsman ad featuring Ventura posing as Rodin's ''Thinker'') began to resurface sarcastically in reference to his often controversial remarks. Ventura's old stage name "Jesse 'The Body'" (sometimes adapted to "Jesse 'The Governing Body'") also continued to appear with some regularity.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

After a trade mission to China in 2002, Ventura announced that he would not run for a second term, saying that he no longer felt dedicated enough to his job and accusing the media of hounding him and his family for personal behavior and beliefs while neglecting coverage of important policy issues.<ref>{{cite news|date=June 18, 2002|title=Jesse Ventura announces he will not seek second term in November|publisher=seattletimes.nwsource.com|url=http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20020618&slug=webventura18|access-date=June 22, 2012}}</ref> He later told a ''Boston Globe'' reporter that he would have run for a second term if he had been single, citing the media's effect on his family life.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/02/25/the_body_politic/ |title=The Body politic |work=The Boston Globe|author=Joseph P. Kahn|date=February 25, 2004 |access-date=October 20, 2008}}</ref>

Ventura sparked media criticism when, nearing the end of his term, he suggested that he might resign from office early to allow his lieutenant governor, Mae Schunk, an opportunity to serve as governor. He further said that he wanted her to be the state's first female governor and have her portrait painted and hung in the Capitol along with the other governors'. Ventura quickly retreated from the comments, saying he was just floating an idea.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://politicalwire.com/archives/2002/10/21/ventura_may_leave_office_early.html |title=Ventura May Leave Office Early – Political Wire |publisher=Politicalwire.com |access-date=October 20, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612030529/http://politicalwire.com/archives/2002/10/21/ventura_may_leave_office_early.html |archive-date=June 12, 2008 }}</ref>

====Political positions as governor====
[[File:Jesse Ventura at the hearing on the future of WTO.jpg|thumb|right|Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura (center) testifies on China's participation in the WTO in March 2000]]
[[File:Jesse Ventura welcomes George W. Bush and Norm Coleman.jpg|thumb|right|Ventura greeting President George W. Bush and Norm Coleman in 2002]]
In political debates, Ventura often admitted that he had not formed an opinion on certain policy questions. He often called himself "fiscally conservative and socially liberal."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ain't Got Time to Bleed|author=Ventura, Jesse|pages=[https://archive.org/details/iaintgottimetobl00vent_0/page/13 13–14]|isbn=0-451-20086-1|publisher=Signet|year=2000|url=https://archive.org/details/iaintgottimetobl00vent_0/page/13}}</ref> He selected teacher Mae Schunk as his running mate.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Zdechlik |first1=Mark |title=After they're picked, most lt. gov. candidates have little influence on voters |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2010/05/28/lieutenant-governor-candidates |website=MPR News|date=May 28, 2010 }}</ref>

Lacking a party base in the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate, Ventura's policy ambitions had little chance of being introduced as bills. He vetoed 45 bills in his first year, only three of which were overridden. The reputation for having his vetoes overridden comes from his fourth and final year, when six of his nine vetoes were overturned.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lrl.mn.gov/vetoes/vetodetails?gov=6|title=Veto Details, Minnesota Legislature|publisher=Minnesota Legislative Reference Library |access-date=August 24, 2023}}</ref> Nevertheless, Ventura succeeded with some of his initiatives. One of the most notable was the rebate on [[Finance:Sales tax|sales tax]]; each year of his administration, Minnesotans received a tax-free check in the late summer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=d676ae3effb81010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD |title=National Governors Association |publisher=nga.org |date=November 1, 2008 |access-date=September 3, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629032126/http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=d676ae3effb81010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD|archive-date=June 29, 2011}}</ref> The state was running a budget surplus at the time, and Ventura believed the money should be returned.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

Later, Ventura came to support a unicameral (one-house) legislature, property tax reform, [[Social:LGBT social movements|gay rights]], recreational marijuana, and abortion rights. While funding public school education generously, he opposed the teachers' union, and did not have a high regard for public funding of higher education institutions.<ref name="Bowman 2002">{{cite news|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20030401234942/http://www.edweek.org/ew/newstory.cfm?slug=27ventura.h21|archivedate=April 1, 2003|title=Ventura Rumbles With Educators|url=https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/ventura-rumbles-with-educators/2002/03|last=Bowman|first=Darcia Harris|work=Education Week|date=March 20, 2002|volume=21|issue=17|pages=1, 17|accessdate=August 24, 2023|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In an interview on ''The Howard Stern Show'', he reaffirmed his support of gay rights, including marriage and military service, humorously stating he would have gladly served alongside homosexuals when he was in the Navy as they would have provided less competition for women.<ref name="stern">{{cite web|url=http://www.howardstern.com/rundown.hs?d=1242705600#14047 |title=The body on the hulk – The Howard Stern Show |publisher=Howardstern.com |date=May 19, 2009 |access-date=June 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131155709/http://howardstern.com/rundown.hs?d=1242705600|archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref> Later, on the subject of a 2012 referendum on amending the Minnesota Constitution to limit marriage to male-female couples, Ventura said, "I certainly hope that people don't amend our constitution to stop gay marriage because, number one, the constitution is there to protect people, not oppress them", and related a story from his wrestling days of a friend who was denied hospital visitation to his same-sex partner.<ref name="MarriageAmendment">{{cite web |title=Political Notebook: Ventura offers to campaign against marriage amendment |url=http://www.postbulletin.com/news/stories/display.php?id=1500082 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201102816/http://www.postbulletin.com/news/stories/display.php?id=1500082 |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 1, 2013 |last=Carlson |first=Heather J. |work=Post-Bulletin |date=June 18, 2012 }}</ref>

During the first part of his administration, Ventura strongly advocated for land-use reform and substantial [[Engineering:Public transport|mass transit]] improvements, such as [[Engineering:Light rail|light rail]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Don't start the revolution without me!|author=Ventura, Jesse|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing Inc.|year=2008|isbn=978-1-60239-273-1|pages=143–160}}</ref>

During another trade mission to Cuba in the summer of 2002, he denounced the United States embargo against Cuba, saying the embargo affected the Cuban public more than it did its government.<ref name=cuba>{{cite web|url=http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200209/25_khoom_cuba1/ |title=MPR: Ventura begins final foreign journey as governor |publisher=News.minnesota.publicradio.org |access-date=October 20, 2008}}</ref>

<!-- This section is linked from Walter Mondale -->
Ventura greatly disapproved of some of the events at the 2002 memorial for Senator Paul Wellstone, his family, and others who died in a plane crash on October 25, 2002. Ventura said, "I feel used. I feel violated and duped over the fact that the memorial ceremony turned into a political rally".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,67075,00.html |title=Ventura May Tap Independent to Wellstone's Seat; Mondale Officially in for Dems |work=Fox News|date=October 31, 2002 |access-date=October 20, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205130655/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C67075%2C00.html |archive-date=February 5, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/830clrob.asp |title=Honor & Civility, RIP |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150615211619/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/830clrob.asp |access-date=October 20, 2008|archive-date=June 15, 2015 }}</ref> He left halfway through the controversial speech made by Wellstone's best friend, Rick Kahn. Ventura had initially planned to appoint a Democrat to Wellstone's seat,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/showdown-in-minnesota-senate-race/|title=Showdown in Minnesota Senate Race |work=CBS Sports |date=November 5, 2002 |access-date=February 5, 2015}}</ref> but instead appointed Dean Barkley to represent Minnesota in the Senate until Wellstone's term expired in January 2003. Barkley was succeeded by Norm Coleman, who won the seat against Walter Mondale, who replaced Wellstone as the Democratic nominee after Wellstone died a few days before the election.<ref>"Up Close with Walter Mondale". UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION. University of Minnesota. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2020.</ref>

[[File:Tim Walz Jesse Ventura cannabis bill.jpg|thumb|right|An advocate for cannabis reform as governor, Ventura (second from left) returned to the State Capitol in May 2023 for the signing of a cannabis legalization bill.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ahmed |first1=Trisha |title=Minnesota governor signs bill legalizing recreational marijuana starting in August |url=https://apnews.com/article/marijuana-minnesota-cannabis-legalization-pot-9a92dda1a1025c5b26033a3ad716a004 |access-date=July 17, 2023 |work=Associated Press |date=May 30, 2023}}</ref>]]
Ventura, who ran on a Reform Party ticket and advocated for a greater role for third parties in American politics, is highly critical of both Democrats and Republicans. He has called both parties "monsters that are out of control", concerned only with "their own agendas and their pork."<ref name=Principles>{{cite web|title=Jesse Ventura on Principles & Values|url=http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Jesse_Ventura_Principles_+_Values.htm|publisher=ontheissues.org|access-date=May 19, 2012}}</ref>

In his book ''Independent Nation'', political analyst John Avlon calls Ventura a [[Philosophy:Radical centrism|radical centrist]] thinker and activist.<ref>Avlon, John (2004). ''Independent Nation: How the Vital Center Is Changing American Politics''. Harmony Books / Random House, pp. 177–193 ("Radical Centrists"). {{ISBN|978-1-4000-5023-9}}.</ref>

====Criticisms of tenure as governor====
After the legislature refused to increase spending for security, Ventura attracted criticism when he decided not to live in the governor's mansion during his tenure, choosing instead to shut it down and stay at his home in Maple Grove.<ref>{{cite news |title=Minnesota governor's mansion closed by Ventura {{!}} The Seattle Times |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20020501&slug=jesse01 |access-date=January 17, 2021 |date=May 1, 2002}}</ref>

In 1999, a group of disgruntled citizens petitioned to recall Governor Ventura, alleging, among other things, that "the use of state security personnel to protect the governor on a book promotion tour constituted illegal use of state property. For personal gain." The proposed petition was dismissed by order of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Minnesota.<ref>In Re Proposed Petition to Recall Governor Jesse Ventura {{cite web| url = http://wrestlingperspective.com/legal/ventura.html| title = Wrestling Perspective: In Re Proposed Petition to Recall Governor Jesse Ventura}}</ref> Under Minnesota law, the Chief Justice must review recall petitions for legal sufficiency, and, upon such review, the Chief Justice determined that it did not allege the commission of any act that violated Minnesota law. Ventura sought attorney's fees as a sanction for the filing of a frivolous petition for recall, but that request was denied on the ground that there was no statutory authority for such an award.<ref>In re Proposed Petition to Recall Governor Ventura, 600 N.W.2d 714 (Minn. 1999).</ref>

Ventura was also criticized for mishandling the Minnesota state budget, with Minnesota state economist Tom Stinson noting that the statewide capital gain fell from $9 billion to $4 billion between 2000 and 2001.<ref name=budgetmess>{{cite news|url=http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2003/03/10_mulcahym_howwegothere/|title=The budget mess: How we got here/|first1=Laura|last1=McCallum|first2=Mike|last2=Mulcahy|publisher=Minnesota Public Radio|date=March 19, 2020}}</ref> Ventura had vetoed this budget, but the state legislature overrode him.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bills Vetoed by Governors - Details - Minnesota Legislative Reference Library |url=https://www.lrl.mn.gov/Vetoes/vetodetails?gov=6 |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=www.lrl.mn.gov}}</ref> This deficit received national attention, for instance making a 10-question interview by ''{{wipe|Time (magazine)}}'' journalist Matthew Cooper with Ventura.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/2002/04/29/ventura.html|title=10 Questions For Jesse Ventura|first=Matthew|last=Cooper|work=CNN|date=April 24, 2002|access-date=April 8, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020806030928/https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/2002/04/29/ventura.html|archive-date=August 6, 2002|url-status=dead}}</ref> When Ventura left office in 2003, Minnesota had a $4.2&nbsp;billion budget deficit, compared to the $3&nbsp;billion budget surplus when Ventura took office in 1999.<ref name=budgetmess />

During his tenure as governor, Ventura drew frequent fire from the Twin Cities press. He called reporters "media jackals," with the label "Official Jackal" even appearing on the press passes required to enter his press area.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=14279 |title=Provocative Press Pass Miffs Minnesota Media |work=Stateline|date=February 26, 2001 |first=Lynda|last=McConnell |access-date=August 24, 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713075616/https://stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=14279|archivedate=July 13, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> Shortly after Ventura's election as governor, author and humorist Garrison Keillor wrote a [[Social:Satire|satirical]] book about him, ''Me: Jimmy (Big Boy) Valente'', depicting a self-aggrandizing former "Navy W.A.L.R.U.S. (Water Air Land Rising Up Suddenly)" turned professional wrestler turned politician. Ventura initially responded angrily to the satire, but later said Keillor "makes Minnesota proud".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.current.org/people/peop908g.html |title=Current.org &#124; Keillor v. Ventura |publisher=Current.org |access-date=October 20, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080715070632/http://www.current.org/people/peop908g.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = July 15, 2008}}</ref> During his term, Ventura appeared on the ''Late Show with David Letterman'', in which he responded controversially to the following question: "So which is the better city of the Twin Cities, Minneapolis or St. Paul?". Ventura responded, "Minneapolis. Those streets in St. Paul must have been designed by drunken Irishmen". He later apologized for the remark, saying it was not intended to be taken seriously.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E3DD173CF935A15751C0A96F958260&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/V/Ventura,%20Jesse |title=Gov. Ventura Stumbles – New York Times |publisher=Query.nytimes.com |date=February 26, 1999 |access-date=October 20, 2008}}</ref>

===Consideration of bids for other political offices===
[[File:Jesse Ventura in Los Angeles, July 2007 cropped.jpg|thumb|left|Ventura in 2007]]
While Ventura has not held public office since the end of his term as governor in 2003, he has remained politically active and occasionally hinted at running for political office. In an April 7, 2008, interview on CNN's ''The Situation Room'', Ventura said he was considering entering the race for the United States Senate seat then held by Norm Coleman, his Republican opponent in the 1998 gubernatorial race. A Twin Cities station Fox 9 poll put him at 24%, behind Democratic candidate Al Franken at 32% and Coleman at 39% in a hypothetical three-way race. On ''Larry King Live'' on July 14, 2008, Ventura said he would not run, partly out of concern for his family's privacy.<ref>{{cite news |last=Falcone |first=Michael |title=Ventura Decides Against Senate Run |work=The Caucus |date=July 14, 2008 |url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/ventura-decides-against-senate-run/ |access-date=July 14, 2008 }}</ref> Franken won the election by a very narrow margin.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2009/06/30/9950/coleman-franken_senate_race_the_day_the_recount_ended_and_the_fight_turned_into_something_really_nice|title=Coleman-Franken Senate race: The day the recount ended and the fight turned into something really nice|access-date=March 11, 2021|work=Minnpost|date=June 30, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100421190703/https://www.minnpost.com/stories/2009/06/30/9950/coleman-franken_senate_race_the_day_the_recount_ended_and_the_fight_turned_into_something_really_nice|archive-date=April 21, 2010}}</ref>

In his 1999 autobiography ''I Ain't Got Time to Bleed'', Ventura suggested that he did not plan to run for president of the United States but did not rule it out.<ref name=Principles/> In 2003, he expressed interest in running for president while accepting an award from the International Wrestling Institute and Museum in Newton, Iowa.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://classicwrestlingarticles.wordpress.com/2018/09/07/ventura-interested-in-running-for-president/|title=Ventura Interested in Running For President|date=September 7, 2018|work=Classic Wrestling Articles|access-date=September 14, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> He spoke at Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul's "Rally for the Republic", organized by the Campaign for Liberty, on September 2, 2008, and implied a possible future run for president. At the end of his speech, Ventura announced if he saw that the public was willing to see a change in the direction of the country, then "in 2012 we'll give them a race they'll never forget!" In 2011, Ventura expressed interest in running with Ron Paul in the 2012 presidential election if Paul would run as an [[Social:Independent politician|independent]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Barr|first=Andy|title=Jesse Ventura wants to be Ron Paul's 2012 running mate|date=April 4, 2011 |url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/52516.html|publisher=Politico|access-date=October 2, 2011}}</ref> On November 4, 2011, Ventura said at a press conference about the dismissal of his court case against the Transportation Security Administration for what he claimed were illegal searches of air travelers that he was "thinking about" running for president.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_19265340?source=rss| author=Emily Gurnon| title=Angry Jesse Ventura thinking about presidential run| publisher=TwinCities.com| date=November 4, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/11/04/judge-dismisses-venturas-lawsuit-over-tsa-pat-downs/| title=Ventura, Miffed Over Lawsuit, Says He's Off To Mexico|publisher=WCCO/AP|date=November 4, 2011|access-date=February 5, 2015}}</ref> There were reports that the Libertarian Party officials had tried to persuade Ventura to run for president on a Libertarian ticket, but party chairman Mark Hinkle said, "Jesse is more interested in 2016 than he is in 2012. But I think he's serious. If Ron Paul ran as a Libertarian, I think he definitely would be interested in running as a vice presidential candidate. He's thinking, 'If I run as the vice presidential candidate under Ron Paul in 2012, I could run as a presidential candidate in 2016'."<ref>{{cite web|last=Epstein|first=Reid J.|title=Gary Johnson eyes Libertarians, who eye Ventura|date=November 30, 2011 |url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/69398.html|publisher=Politico|access-date=February 26, 2012}}</ref>

David Gewirtz of ZDNet wrote in a November 2011 article that he thought Ventura could win if he declared his intention to run at that point and ran a serious campaign, but that it would be a long shot.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.zdnet.com/blog/government/is-there-any-possible-way-jesse-ventura-could-win-the-presidency/10980?pg=2| author=David Gewirtz| title=Is there any possible way Jesse Ventura could win the Presidency?| work=ZDNet| date=November 8, 2011}}</ref>
In late 2015, Ventura publicly flirted with the idea of running for president in 2016 as a Libertarian but allowed his self-imposed deadline of May 1 to pass.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ventura|first1=Jesse|title=Why I'm voting for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson for president|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/13/jesse-ventura-why-im-voting-for-libertarian-candidate-gary-johnson-for-president-commentary.html|website=CNBC|access-date=July 13, 2016|date=July 13, 2016}}</ref> He also expressed an openness to be either Donald Trump's or Bernie Sanders's running mate in 2016.<ref>{{cite news |author=Daniella Diaz |title=Jesse Ventura hopes Trump considers him for VP |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/12/politics/donald-trump-jesse-ventura-roger-stone-vice-president/index.html |access-date=December 23, 2019 |work=CNNPolitics |date=August 13, 2015}}</ref> Ventura tried to officially endorse Sanders but his endorsement was rejected.<ref>{{cite news |title=Jesse Ventura says Bernie Sanders politely but firmly declined his endorsement |url=https://theweek.com/speedreads/609396/jesse-ventura-says-bernie-sanders-politely-but-firmly-declined-endorsement |access-date=March 28, 2020 |work=theweek.com |date=February 29, 2016 |language=en}}</ref> Ventura then endorsed former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, the Libertarian nominee, saying, "Johnson is a very viable alternative" and "This is the year for a third-party candidate to rise if there ever was one."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ventura|first1=Jesse|title=Jesse Ventura: Why voters should listen to Gov. Gary Johnson|url=http://www.ora.tv/offthegrid/article/2016/6/1/jesse-ventura-why-voters-should-listen-to-gov-gary-johnson|website=Ora TV}}</ref> Despite this, he later claimed that he ended up voting for Green Party nominee Jill Stein.<ref>{{cite tweet |user=GovJVentura |author=Jesse Ventura |number=908846088290942977 |date=September 15, 2017 |title=Jesse Ventura Retweeted – Who said I voted for Trump? Not me. Look it up. I voted for @DrJillStein (to set the record straight) |access-date=October 6, 2019}}</ref>

===Unauthorized 2020 presidential campaign===
Ventura expressed interest in running for president again in 2020, but said he would do so only under the Green Party banner.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/7DU0QP4jQ3s Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20180511041822/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DU0QP4jQ3s&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|last1=Dore|first1=Jimmy|title=How Jesse Ventura Would Run For President in 2020 -pt. 3|website=[[Company:YouTube|YouTube]]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DU0QP4jQ3s|date=May 10, 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref> "The [Green Party] has shown some interest. I haven't made a decision yet because it's a long time off. If I do do it, Trump will not have a chance. For one, Trump knows wrestling. He participated in two WrestleManias. He knows he can never out-talk a wrestler, and he knows I'm the greatest talker wrestling's ever had."<ref>{{cite web|title=JESSE VENTURA CONSIDERING PRESIDENTIAL RUN'Trump Will Not Have a Chance!'|url=https://www.tmz.com/2018/11/28/jesse-ventura-running-president-trump-wrestlemania/|date=November 28, 2018}}</ref>

On April 27, 2020, Ventura submitted a letter of interest to the Green Party Presidential Support Committee, the first step to seeking the Green Party's presidential nomination.<ref name=":0"/><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/GovJVentura/status/1254783039642595330|title=GovJVentura – status|date=April 27, 2020|website=Twitter}}</ref> In May, he announced that he would not run for health reasons, explaining that he would lose his employer-provided health insurance.<ref>{{cite web |title=Former Gov. Jesse Ventura Announces He Will Not Be Running For President |date=May 8, 2020 |url=https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/05/08/former-gov-jesse-ventura-announces-he-will-not-be-running-for-president/ |publisher=CBS Minnesota |access-date=May 15, 2020}}</ref>

Ventura said he would [[Social:Write-in candidate|write in]] his own name in the presidential election, but would support Green candidates in down-ballot races. He said he "refuse[s] to vote for '[[Philosophy:Lesser of two evils principle|the lesser of two evils]]' because in the end, that's still choosing evil."<ref>{{cite tweet |last1=Ventura |first1=Jesse |user=GovJVentura|number=1253146870844657664 |access-date=April 22, 2020 |date=April 22, 2020 |title=I keep getting asked who I'm voting for, if I'm going to endorse anyone, if I'm going to run. Let me be clear: I have ZERO confidence in Democrats and Republicans. I refuse to vote for "the lesser of two evils" because in the end, that's still choosing evil.}}</ref> Ventura received seven presidential delegate votes at the 2020 Green National Convention, having been awarded them through write-in votes in the 2020 Green primaries. Despite the national Green Party nominating Howie Hawkins for president and Angela Nicole Walker for vice president, the Green Party of Alaska nominated Ventura and former representative Cynthia McKinney without Ventura's consent. Ventura and McKinney received 0.7% of the Alaska popular vote.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Downing|first=Suzanne|date=September 1, 2020|title=Green Party of Alaska nominates Jesse Ventura for president|work=Must Read Alaska|url=https://mustreadalaska.com/green-party-of-alaska-nominates-jesse-ventura-for-president/|access-date=September 4, 2020}}</ref>

===Political views===
Ventura has described himself as "fiscally conservative" and "socially liberal". He has said his first memory of political independence is voting for John Anderson for president in 1980.<ref name=":2" />

====Bush Administration and torture====
In a May 11, 2009, interview with Larry King, Ventura twice said that George W. Bush was the worst president of his lifetime, adding "[[Biography:Barack Obama|President Obama]] inherited something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. You know? Two wars, an economy that's borderline depression."<ref name="CNNKing"/> On the issue of waterboarding, Ventura added:

{{blockquote|I will criticize President Obama on this level: it's a good thing I'm not president because I would prosecute every person that was involved in that torture. I would prosecute the people that did it. I would prosecute the people that ordered it. Because torture is against the law. [King: And you were a Navy SEAL] That's right and I was waterboarded...at SERE school, Survival Escape Resistance Evasion [sic]. It was a required school you had to go to prior to going into the combat zone, which in my era was Vietnam. All of us had to go there. We were all in essence, every one of us was waterboarded. It is torture. [King: What was it like?] It's drowning. It gives you the complete sensation that you are drowning. It's no good, because you{{mdash}}I'll put it to you this way, you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders. ... If it's done wrong, you certainly could drown. You could swallow your tongue. [It] could do a whole bunch of stuff to you. If it's done wrong or{{mdash}}it's torture, Larry. It's torture.<ref name="CNNKing">{{cite news|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0905/11/lkl.01.html|title=CNN Larry King Live: The Dirt on Joan Rivers' Win; Will Carrie Prejean Lose Her Title?; Interview With Jesse Ventura|work=CNN|date=May 11, 2009|access-date=February 15, 2015}}</ref>}}

====Questions about 9/11====
In April and May 2008, in several radio interviews for his new book ''Don't Start the Revolution Without Me'', Ventura expressed concern about what he called unanswered questions about [[Religion:September 11 attacks|9/11]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.howardstern.com/rundown.hs?d=1211342400#11961|title=Jesse The Body Sounds Off|publisher=howardstern.com|date=May 21, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131153711/http://howardstern.com/rundown.hs?d=1211342400|archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref> His remarks about the possibility that the [[Unsolved:World Trade Center controlled demolition conspiracy theories|World Trade Center was demolished with explosives]] were repeated in newspaper and television stories after some of the interviews.<ref name="autogenerated2">[http://www.kxnet.com/custom404.asp?404;http://www.kxnet.com/News/225221.asp Ventura says he regrets initial acceptance of 9/11 explanations], Associated Press, April 3, 2008  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813100813/http://www.kxnet.com/custom404.asp?404%3Bhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.kxnet.com%2FNews%2F225221.asp |date=August 13, 2011 }}</ref>

On May 18, 2009, when asked by [[Biography:Sean Hannity|Sean Hannity]] of Fox News how George W. Bush could have avoided the September 11 attacks, Ventura answered, "And there it is again—you pay attention to memos on August 6th that tell you exactly what [[Biography:Osama bin Laden|bin Laden]]'s gonna do."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/19/jesse-ventura-gets-in-the_n_205146.html |title=Jesse Ventura, Hannity Go Head-To-Head |publisher=HuffPost |date= May 19, 2009|access-date=June 13, 2010 |first=Jason |last=Linkins}}</ref>

On April 9, 2011, when Piers Morgan of CNN asked Ventura for his official view of the events of 9/11, Ventura said, "My theory of 9/11 is that we certainly—at the best we knew it was going to happen. They allowed it to happen to further their agenda in the Middle East and go to these wars."<ref>{{cite news|title=PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT Interview With Jesse Ventura|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1104/09/pmt.01.html|publisher=CNN|access-date=October 20, 2012}}</ref>

==Other endeavors==
===Post-gubernatorial life===
[[File:Jesse Ventura 2827650892 Agent Cody Banks Flickr.jpg|thumb|left|Ventura orating at the Rally for the Republic in 2008]]
Ventura was succeeded in office on January 6, 2003, by Republican Tim Pawlenty.

In October 2003 he began a weekly MSNBC show, ''Jesse Ventura's America''; the show was canceled after a couple of months. Ventura has alleged it was canceled because he opposed the Iraq War. MSNBC honored the balance of his three-year contract, legally preventing him from doing any other TV or news shows.<ref>{{cite news|last=Collins|first=Scott|title=Jesse Ventura searches for coverups|url=https://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/29/entertainment/la-ca-conversation29-2009nov29|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=April 17, 2014|date=November 29, 2009}}</ref>

On October 22, 2004, with Ventura by his side, former Maine Governor Angus King endorsed John Kerry for president at the Minnesota state capitol building. Ventura did not speak at the press conference. When prodded for a statement, King responded, "He plans to vote for John Kerry, but he doesn't want to make a statement and subject himself to the tender mercies of the Minnesota press".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/10/28_mccalluml_venturakerry/ |title=MPR: Speechless no more, Ventura stumps for Kerry at colleges |publisher=News.minnesota.publicradio.org |access-date=October 20, 2008}}</ref> In the 2012 Senate elections, Ventura endorsed King in his campaign for the open Senate seat in Maine, which King won.<ref>{{cite web|last=Gavin|first=Patrick|title=Jesse Ventura goes gangsta in political tome|date=June 13, 2012 |url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77395.html|publisher=Politico|access-date=April 11, 2013}}</ref>

In November 2004, an advertisement began airing in California featuring Ventura, in which he voiced his opposition to then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's policies regarding Native American casinos.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p4Rd1yXBGWIC&pg=PA137|isbn=978-1-60239-716-3|page=137|title=Don't Start the Revolution Without Me!|author=Jesse Ventura|date=2009|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing }}</ref> Ventura served as an advisory board member for a group called Operation Truth, a nonprofit organization set up "to give voice to troops who served in Iraq." "The current use of the National Guard is wrong....These are men who did not sign up to go occupy foreign nations".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-ARMYPAPER-323322.php |title=Army News, benefits, careers, entertainment, photos, promotions  |publisher=Armytimes.com |access-date=October 20, 2008}}</ref>

In August 2005, Ventura became the spokesperson for BetUS, an online sportsbook.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.betus.com/site-siteJesseVideo.asp |title=BetUs Events |date=October 15, 2007 |access-date=June 13, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060720160431/http://www.betus.com/site-siteJesseVideo.asp|archive-date=July 20, 2006 }}</ref>

On December 29, 2011, Ventura announced his support for Ron Paul on ''The Alex Jones Show'' in the 2012 presidential election as "the only anti-war candidate." Like Paul, Ventura is known for supporting a less [[Social:Interventionism (politics)|interventionist]] foreign policy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ivn.us/2010/03/10/jesse-ventura-calls-out-democrats-republicans-and-tea-party/|title=Jesse Ventura calls out Democrats, Republicans, and the Tea Party|date=March 10, 2010|website=IVN.us|language=en|access-date=May 21, 2019}}</ref> But after Mitt Romney became the presumptive Republican nominee in May 2012, Ventura gave his support to Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson on June 12, 2012, whom Ventura argued was the choice for voters who "really want to rebel."<ref>{{cite web|last=Martel|first=Frances|title=Jesse Ventura Tells CNN Morning Crew Why Politicians Should Wear NASCAR Outfits|url=http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jesse-ventura-tells-cnn-morning-crew-why-politicians-should-wear-nascar-outfits/|publisher=mediaite.com|access-date=June 13, 2012|date=June 12, 2012}}</ref>

In September 2012, Ventura and his wife appeared in an advertisement calling for voters to reject a referendum to be held in Minnesota during the November elections that amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. The referendum was defeated.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jesse Ventura campaigns against anti-gay marriage amendment|url=http://www.wisconsingazette.com/breaking-news/jesse-ventura-campaigns-against-anti-gay-marriage-amendment.html|publisher=wisconsingazette.com|access-date=January 12, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130217012126/http://www.wisconsingazette.com/breaking-news/jesse-ventura-campaigns-against-anti-gay-marriage-amendment.html|archive-date=February 17, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Minnesota Amendment 1 Same-Sex Marriage Ballot Measure Fails|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/minnesota-amendment-1-results-2012_n_2050310.html|access-date=January 12, 2013 |work=Huffington Post|first=Noah|last=Michelson|date=November 7, 2012}}</ref>

===Books===

[[File:JesseVentura2.jpg|thumb|Ventura at a book signing in 2016]]
Ventura wrote several other books after leaving office. On April 1, 2008, his ''Don't Start the Revolution Without Me'' was released. In it, Ventura describes a hypothetical campaign in which he is an independent candidate for president of the United States in 2008. In an interview with the Associated Press at the time of the book's release, Ventura denied any plans for a presidential bid, saying that the scenario was only imaginary and not indicative of a "secret plan to run".<ref>Freed, Joshua.[https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-31-415832547_x.htm "Ventura:No Plans to Run Again, but..."], Associated Press. Retrieved April 1, 2008.</ref> On MinnPost.com, Ventura's agent, Steve Schwartz, said of the book, "[Ventura is revealing] why he left politics and discussing the disastrous war in Iraq, why he sees our two-party system as corrupt, and what Fidel Castro told him about who was really behind the assassination of [[Biography:John F. Kennedy|President Kennedy]]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.minnpost.com/joekimball/2007/11/14/96/jesses_back_new_ventura_book_revolution_will_cover_political_waterfront|title=Jesse's back! New Ventura book 'Revolution' will cover political waterfront|work=MinnPost|access-date=November 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610011922/http://www.minnpost.com/joekimball/2007/11/14/96/jesses_back_new_ventura_book_revolution_will_cover_political_waterfront/|archive-date=June 10, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Ventura also wrote ''DemoCRIPS and ReBLOODlicans: No More Gangs in Government'', which was released on June 11, 2012. The book expresses Ventura's opposition to the [[Social:Two-party system|two-party system]] and calls for political parties to be abolished.<ref>{{cite web|last=Harper|first=Jennifer|title=Inside the Beltway: Bipartisan gangland|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/14/inside-the-beltway-bipartisan-gangland/|publisher=washingtontimes.com|access-date=May 24, 2012}}</ref>

On September 6, 2016, ''Jesse Ventura's Marijuana Manifesto'' was released, making the case for the legalization of cannabis and detailing the various special interests that benefit from keeping it illegal.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ventura |first1=Jesse |title=Jesse Ventura's Marijuana Manifesto |date=September 6, 2016 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |isbn=978-1510714243 |pages=316 }}</ref>

===''Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura''===
In December 2009, Ventura hosted TruTV's new show ''Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/30/jesse-ventura-working-on_n_130477.html |title=Jesse Ventura Working on Conspiracy Theory Series For truTV |publisher=HuffPost |date= September 30, 2008|access-date=June 13, 2010}}</ref> "Ventura will hunt down answers, plunging viewers into a world of secret meetings, midnight surveillance, shifty characters and dark forces," truTV said in a statement. On the program, Ventura traveled the country, investigating cases and getting input from believers and skeptics before passing judgment on a theory's validity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.turner.com/press_kits.cfm?presskit_id=163 |title=TruTv:Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura |publisher=News.turner.com |access-date=December 15, 2012}}</ref> According to TruTV, the first episode drew 1.6 million viewers, a record for a new series on the network.<ref name=ep1viewers>{{cite web|url=http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2009/12/03/conspiracy-theory-with-jesse-ventura-delivers-1-6-million-viewers-trutv%E2%80%99s-biggest-audience-ever-for-a-new-series-launch/35201/ |title=Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura Delivers 1.6 Million Viewers, truTV's Biggest Audience Ever for a New Series Launch |publisher=TV by the Numbers |date=December 3, 2009 |access-date=April 1, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110413053637/http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2009/12/03/conspiracy-theory-with-jesse-ventura-delivers-1-6-million-viewers-trutv%E2%80%99s-biggest-audience-ever-for-a-new-series-launch/35201 |archive-date=April 13, 2011 }}</ref>

The first season was followed by a second in 2010 and a third in 2012.<ref>[http://www.trutv.com/shows/conspiracy_theory/episodes/index.html ''Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura'' Second Season episode list] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111205191005/http://www.trutv.com/shows/conspiracy_theory/episodes/index.html |date=December 5, 2011 }}, TruTv.com</ref> After three seasons, the show was discontinued in 2013,<ref>{{cite web|last=Ragsdale|first=Jim|title=Jesse Ventura says 2016 offers best shot for independent presidential candidate|url=http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/209742001.html|publisher=StarTribune|access-date=August 31, 2013}}</ref> but as of 2017 it is still shown worldwide on satellite TV.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

===''We The People'' podcast===
On July 31, 2014, Ventura launched a weekly podcast, ''We The People,'' distributed by Adam Carolla's "Carolla Digital",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.talkers.com/tag/adam-carolla/|title=Adam Carolla : TALKERS.COM|access-date=November 27, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/we-people-jesse-ventura/id904044124?mt=2|title=We The People with Jesse Ventura|work=iTunes|access-date=November 27, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://thegarynullshow.podbean.com/e/jesse-ventura-112514/|title=The Gary Null Show|access-date=November 27, 2015}}</ref> which ran until March 4, 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rare.us/story/jesse-ventura-msm-in-lockstep-with-the-government/|title=Jesse Ventura: "MSM in lockstep with the government"|work=Rare|access-date=November 27, 2015|archive-date=December 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208181413/http://rare.us/story/jesse-ventura-msm-in-lockstep-with-the-government/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ora.tv/offthegrid/article/2014/7/30/we-the-people-with-jesse-ventura|title=We the People with Jesse Ventura|work=Ora TV|access-date=November 27, 2015}}</ref> Guests included Larry King,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timessquaregossip.com/2015/01/larry-king-talks-marijuana-with-jesse.html|title=Times Square Gossip|author=James Edstrom|date=January 12, 2015 |access-date=November 27, 2015}}</ref> Bill Goldberg, Chris Jericho, Roddy Piper, Donald Trump, Mark Dice, and leading members of the 9/11 Truth movement.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://911debunkers.blogspot.com/2014/09/coast-to-coast-am-september-4-2014-911.html|title=Debunking the Debunkers: Coast To Coast AM – September 4, 2014 9/11 Truth & Prophecy|access-date=November 27, 2015|date=September 14, 2014}}</ref>

==Disputes==
===Navy SEAL background===
Bill Salisbury, an attorney in San Diego and a former Navy SEAL officer, has accused Ventura of "pretending" to be a SEAL. He wrote that Ventura blurred an important distinction by claiming to be a SEAL when he was actually a frogman with the [[Organization:Underwater Demolition Team|UDT]]. Compared to SEAL teams, UDTs saw less combat and took fewer casualties.<ref name="news.minnesota.publicradio.org">{{cite web|url=http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/199912/14_kastem_seals/ |title=MPR: Battling Seals |publisher=News.minnesota.publicradio.org |date=December 14, 1999 |access-date=June 13, 2010}}</ref><ref name="news.google.com">{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EYkxAAAAIBAJ&pg=4203,170203 |title=Ventura brushes off criticism of SEAL training |access-date=December 2, 2011}}</ref>

Salisbury described Ventura's Navy training thus:<blockquote>[Ventura] took a screening test at boot camp to qualify for...Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training...Those who completed BUD/S, when [Ventura] was in training, were sent to either a SEAL or an underwater demolition team. Graduation did not, however, authorize the trainee to call himself a SEAL or a UDT frogman. He had to first successfully complete a six-month probationary period in the Teams.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1999/dec/02/jesse-great-pretender-ventura/ |title=Jesse "The Great Pretender" Ventura |newspaper=San Diego Reader |access-date=2010-06-13}}</ref></blockquote>Ventura underwent BUD/S training and was assigned to a UDT team. He received the NEC 5321/22 UDT designation after completing a six-month probationary period with Underwater Demolition Team 12. He was never granted the Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) 5326 Combatant Swimmer (SEAL) designation, which requires a six-month probationary period with SEAL TEAM ONE or TWO. In 1983, eight years after Ventura left the Navy, the UDTs were disbanded, and those operators were retrained and retasked as SEALs.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}}

Responding to the controversy, Ventura's office confirmed that he was a member of the UDT. His spokesman said that Ventura has never tried to convince people otherwise.<ref name="news.minnesota.publicradio.org"/> Ventura said, "Today we refer to all of us as SEALs. That's all it is." He dismissed the accusations of lying about being a SEAL as "much ado about nothing".<ref name="news.google.com"/>

Former Navy SEAL Brandon Webb, the editor of the website SOFREP.com, wrote in a column on the site, "Jesse Ventura graduated with Basic Underwater Demolition Class 58 and, like it or not, he earned his status." He disagreed with the argument that Ventura was a UDT and not a SEAL, saying "try telling that to a WWII UDT veteran who swam ashore before the landing craft on D-Day." "The UDTs and SEALs are essentially one and the same. It's why the UDT is still part of the training acronym BUD/S", Webb wrote.<ref name=sofrep>{{cite web|url=http://sofrep.com/36086/truth-jesse-venturas-navy-seal-status/|title=The Truth About Jesse Ventura's Navy SEAL Status|author=Brandon Webb|date= July 11, 2014|access-date= October 9, 2014|publisher=SOFREP.com}}</ref>

===Lawsuit against the TSA===
In January 2011, Ventura filed a lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration, seeking a [[Social:Declaratory judgment|declaration]] that the agency's new controversial pat-down policy violated citizens' Fourth Amendment rights and an [[Social:Injunction|injunction]] to bar the TSA from subjecting him to the pat-down procedures. Ventura received a titanium hip replacement in 2008 that sets off metal detectors at airport security checkpoints.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hunter|first=Marnie|title=Jesse Ventura slams TSA with lawsuit|url=http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/01/25/jesse.ventura.tsa.lawsuit/index.html|date=September 27, 2011|work=CNN}}</ref>

The U.S. district court dismissed the suit for lack of jurisdiction in November 2011, ruling that "challenges to TSA orders, policies and procedures" must be brought only in the U.S. courts of appeals.<ref name=courthouse>{{cite web|last1=Koeninger|first1=Kevin|title=Jesse Ventura Can't Fight Airport Screening Rules|url=http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/11/08/41290.htm|publisher=Courthouse News Service|date=November 8, 2011}}</ref> After the court's ruling, Ventura held a press conference in which he called the federal judges cowards; said he no longer felt patriotic and would henceforth refer to the U.S. as the "Fascist States of America"; said he would never take commercial flights again; said he would seek dual citizenship in Mexico; and said he would "never stand for a national anthem again" and would instead raise a fist.<ref name=mpr>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.mprnews.org/capitol-view/2011/11/jesse_ventura_i/|title=Jesse Ventura: 'I will never stand for the national anthem again.'|author=Tom Scheck|date=November 4, 2011|publisher=Minnesota Public Radio}}</ref>

===Chris Kyle dispute===
During a January 2012 interview on ''Opie and Anthony'', former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle said he had punched Ventura in 2006 at a bar in Coronado, California, during a wake for Michael A. Monsoor, a fellow SEAL who had been killed in Iraq. According to Kyle, Ventura was vocally expressing opposition to the War in Iraq. Kyle, who wrote about the alleged incident in his book but did not mention Ventura by name, said he approached Ventura and asked him to tone down his voice because the families of SEAL personnel were present, but that Ventura responded that the SEALs "deserved to lose a few guys." Kyle said he then punched Ventura.<ref name=lamothe>{{cite news|last1=Lamothe|first1=Dan|title=Jesse Ventura vs. Chris Kyle: A case where no one won|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/07/30/jesse-ventura-vs-chris-kyle-a-case-where-no-one-won/|access-date=November 21, 2014|newspaper=Washington Post|date=July 30, 2014}}</ref><ref name="navytimes.com">Associated Press, "[http://www.navytimes.com/news/2012/08/ap-former-seal-book-lawsuit-ventura-082912/ Ex-SEAL's attorney: Ventura's claims deficient]", ''Military Times'', August 29, 2012</ref> Ventura denied the event occurred.<ref name=lamothe />

==== Lawsuit ====
In January 2012, after Kyle declined to retract his statement, Ventura sued Kyle for defamation in federal court. In a motion filed by Kyle's attorney in August 2012 to dismiss two of the suit's three counts, declarations by five former SEALs and the mothers of two others supported Kyle's account.<ref name="navytimes.com"/><ref>Browing, Dan, ''Star Tribune'', "[http://www.stripes.com/news/us/ex-seal-jesse-ventura-got-popped-after-popping-off-1.187334 Ex-SEAL: Jesse Ventura got popped after popping off]", ''Stars and Stripes'', August 29, 2012</ref> But in a motion filed by Ventura, Bill DeWitt, a close friend of Ventura and former SEAL who was present with him at the bar, suggested that Ventura interacted with a few SEALs but was involved in no confrontation with Kyle and that Kyle's claims were false. DeWitt's wife also said she witnessed no fight between Kyle and Ventura.<ref>{{cite web|last=Hanners|first=David|title=Ventura says fellow author just after notoriety|url=http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_21592232/jesse-ventura-seal-didnt-deck-me|publisher=twincities.com|access-date=October 14, 2012|date=September 19, 2012}}</ref><ref name="Another Win">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/us/jesse-ventura-chris-kyle-navy-seal-book-lawsuit.html |title=$1.8 Million for Ventura in Defamation Case |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 29, 2014 |first=Monica |last=Davey}}</ref>

In 2013, while the lawsuit was ongoing, Kyle was murdered in an unrelated incident, and Ventura substituted Taya Kyle, Chris Kyle's widow and the executor of his estate, as the defendant.<ref>{{cite web|last=Hopfensperger|first=Jean|title=Former MN Gov. Ventura wants to add widow to suit against Navy SEAL Chris Kyle|url=http://www.startribune.com/local/209539341.html|publisher=startribune.com|access-date=June 1, 2013}}</ref> After a three-week trial in federal court in St. Paul in July 2014, the jury reached an 8–2 divided verdict in Ventura's favor, and awarded him $1.85 million, $500,000 for defamation and $1,345,477.25 for [[Social:Unjust enrichment|unjust enrichment]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nolapatent.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Order-Adopting-Verdict.pdf |title=Jury Verdict adopted by court  |date=August 7, 2014 |access-date=August 23, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Another Win"/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20140729-breaking-jury-awards-jesse-ventura-1.8-million-in-american-sniper-lawsuit.ece |title=Jury awards Jesse Ventura $1.8&nbsp;million in 'American Sniper' lawsuit |newspaper=Dallas Morning News |date=July 29, 2014 |access-date=January 14, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Chris Kyle trial: Jesse Ventura wins $1.8 million in defamation case|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/lake-oswego/index.ssf/2014/07/chris_kyle_trial_jurors_warn_t.html|access-date=August 1, 2014|agency=Associated Press|publisher=Oregon Live|date=July 29, 2014}}</ref> Ventura testified at the trial.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.kare11.com/story/news/local/2014/07/11/ventura-testifies-american-sniper-lawsuit/12540345/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141120070243/http://www.kare11.com/story/news/local/2014/07/11/ventura-testifies-american-sniper-lawsuit/12540345/|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 20, 2014|title=Ventura testifies in 'American Sniper' lawsuit|work=KARE|date=July 15, 2014|access-date=November 20, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.startribune.com/local/269697941.html| title=Aug. 3: Juror describes how jury reached split decision in Jesse Ventura defamation trial |work=Star Tribune |date=September 4, 2014 |access-date=November 20, 2014}}</ref> In August 2014, U.S. District Judge Richard H. Kyle (no relation to Chris Kyle) upheld the jury's award, finding it "reasonable and supported by a preponderance of the evidence." Attorneys for Kyle's estate said that the defamation damages would be covered by HarperCollins's libel insurance. The unjust enrichment award was not covered by insurance. After the verdict, HarperCollins announced that it would remove the sub-chapter "Punching out Scruff Face" from all future editions of Kyle's book.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.twincities.com/2014/08/07/federal-judge-rules-1-3-million-is-reasonable-in-jesse-ventura-defamation-suit/|title=Jesse Ventura's $1.8M award in defamation trial ruled reasonable |work=St. Paul Pioneer Press |date=August 8, 2014 |access-date=August 8, 2014}}</ref> Kyle's estate moved for either [[Social:Judgment as a matter of law|judgment as a matter of law]] or a new trial.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.twincities.com/2014/09/03/jesse-ventura-case-sniper-authors-widow-seeks-retrial/| title=Jesse Ventura case: 'Sniper' author's widow seeks retrial |work=St. Paul Pioneer Press |date=September 4, 2014 |access-date=September 5, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://dockets.justia.com/docket/minnesota/mndce/0:2012cv00472/124753| title=Ventura v. Kyle, Doc. 404 |work=Justia Dockets & Filings |date=October 3, 2014 |access-date=December 22, 2014}}</ref><ref name="thedeal.com">{{cite news|url=http://www.thedeal.com/content/restructuring/a-snipers-widow-fights-for-his-legacy.php|title=A sniper's widow fights for his legacy|work=The Deal Pipeline|date=October 7, 2014|access-date=October 7, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009181858/http://www.thedeal.com/content/restructuring/a-snipers-widow-fights-for-his-legacy.php|archive-date=October 9, 2014}}</ref> In November 2014, the district  court denied the motions.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_27017245/no-new-trial-jesse-ventura-chris-kyle-defamation| title=No new trial in Jesse Ventura, Chris Kyle defamation lawsuit, judge rules |work=St. Paul Pioneer Press |date=November 26, 2014 |access-date=November 26, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.kaaltv.com/kstpImages/repository/cs/files/VenturaVKyleOrder112614.pdf|title=Judge's Memo denying motions|date=November 26, 2014|access-date=December 6, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209133846/http://www.kaaltv.com/kstpImages/repository/cs/files/VenturaVKyleOrder112614.pdf|archive-date=December 9, 2014}}</ref>

Kyle's estate appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/12/23/american-sniper-appeal |title='American Sniper' widow to appeal Ventura defamation verdict| date=December 23, 2014 |access-date=December 25, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://dockets.justia.com/docket/circuit-courts/ca8/14-3876 |title=Jesse Ventura v. Taya Kyle| date=December 23, 2014 |access-date=December 25, 2014}}</ref> Oral argument was held in October 2015,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.fox9.com/news/36493761-story|title=Jesse Ventura: American Sniper appeal is 'superman' vs truth|date=October 20, 2015|access-date=November 12, 2015|archive-date=November 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117030449/http://www.fox9.com/news/36493761-story|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ivoox.com/14-3876-jesse-ventura-vs-taya-kyle-audios-mp3_rf_9099704_1.html?autoplay=true |title= Oral Arguments 14-3876: Jesse Ventura vs Taya Kyle| date=October 20, 2015 |access-date=November 12, 2015}}</ref> and on June 13, 2016, the appeals court vacated and reversed the unjust-enrichment judgment, and vacated and remanded the defamation judgment for a new trial, holding that "We cannot accept Ventura's unjust-enrichment theory, because it enjoys no legal support under Minnesota law. Ventura's unjust-enrichment claim fails as a matter of law."<ref>{{cite court
|litigants=Ventura v. Kyle
|opinion=14-3876
|pinpoint=20
|court=8th Cir.
|date=June 13, 2016
|url=http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/16/06/143876P.pdf
|access-date=November 28, 2016
|quote=We cannot accept Ventura's unjust-enrichment theory, because it enjoys no legal support under Minnesota law. Ventura's unjust-enrichment claim fails as a matter of law.
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Forliti|first1=Amy|title=Court vacates $1.8M Ventura award in 'American Sniper' case|url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/court-vacates-dollar18m-ventura-award-in-american-sniper-case/ar-AAgZiii?ocid=ansmsnent11|access-date=June 13, 2016|agency=AP|publisher=MSN|date=June 13, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616113139/http://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/court-vacates-dollar18m-ventura-award-in-american-sniper-case/ar-AAgZiii?ocid=ansmsnent11|archive-date=June 16, 2016}}</ref> Ventura sought to appeal the circuit court's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court,<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.startribune.com/ventura-s-attorney-asks-supreme-court-to-hear-defamation-case/399574911/ | title=Ventura's attorney asks U.S. Supreme Court to hear defamation case| website=Star Tribune}}</ref> but in January 2017, the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.twincities.com/2017/01/09/jesse-ventura-loses-appeal-to-reinstate-1-8m-verdict-in-defamation-case/ |title = Jesse Ventura loses appeal to reinstate $1.8M verdict in defamation case|date = January 9, 2017}}</ref>

In December 2014, Ventura sued publisher HarperCollins over the same statement in ''American Sniper''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Holley |first=Peter |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/12/16/jesse-ventura-sues-harpercollins-over-chris-kyles-american-sniper/ |title=Jesse Ventura sues HarperCollins over Chris Kyle's 'American Sniper' |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 16, 2014 |access-date=January 14, 2015}}</ref> In December 2017, Ventura and HarperCollins settled the dispute on undisclosed terms, and Ventura dropped his lawsuit against both the publisher and Kyle's estate.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/5/jesse-ventura-settles-american-sniper-lawsuit-take |title=Jesse Ventura settles 'American Sniper' lawsuit|date=December 4, 2017 |access-date=December 29, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/06/26/a-fox-news-host-ambushed-jesse-ventura-about-his-american-sniper-lawsuit-it-got-ugly/|newspaper=Washington Post|title=A Fox News host ambushed Jesse Ventura about his 'American Sniper' lawsuit. It got ugly.|date=June 26, 2017|author=Cleve R. Wootson Jr.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.startribune.com/jesse-ventura-appears-to-have-settled-long-running-defamation-law-suit/461382013/|newspaper=Star Tribune|title=Jesse Ventura appears to have settled his long-running lawsuit|date=December 1, 2017}}</ref>

==Personal life==

===Family===
On July 18, 1975, three days after his 24th birthday, Ventura married his wife Terry.<ref name=CohenAmazon/> The couple have two children: a son, Tyrel,<ref name=People>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20137480,00.html "Last CallFor Gov. Jesse Ventura – and His Fun-Loving Son Tyrel – the Party Is Over"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322143526/http://people.com/archive/last-call-vol-58-no-2/ |date=March 22, 2018 }}. ''People''. Vol. 58 No. July 2, 8, 2002</ref> who is a film and television director and producer,<ref>Justin, Neal. [http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/blogs/130138483.html "Jesse Ventura hires a familiar face"]. ''Star Tribune''. September 19, 2011</ref> and a daughter, Jade.<ref name=People/> With the exception of the first two WrestleManias, Ventura always said hello to "Terry, Tyrel and Jade back in Minneapolis" during his commentary at the annual event. Tyrel also had the honor of inducting his father into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004, and worked on ''Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura'', including as an investigator in the show's third season.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

Ventura and his wife split their time between White Bear Lake, Minnesota and Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico.<ref>[http://www.trutv.com/shows/conspiracy_theory/bios.html "Meet the Team"]. ''Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura''. TruTV. Retrieved December 21, 2011.</ref> Regarding his life in Mexico, Ventura has said: {{cquote|I live one hour from pavement and one hour from electricity. I drive down and back every year and it's truly an adventure to live down there where I do, because I'm off the grid. I have electricity but it's all solar. I'm completely solar-powered down there. And it makes you pay more attention. It makes you turn the lights off when you're not using them.<ref>[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/01/lkl.01.html "Jesse Ventura Calls for Revolution of Political Parties"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200308184554/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/01/lkl.01.html |date=March 8, 2020 }}. Transcript of ''Larry King Live''. April 1, 2008. CNN. Retrieved December 21, 2011.</ref>}}

===Health===
During his wrestling days, Ventura used [[Chemistry:Anabolic steroid|anabolic steroid]]s. He admitted this after retiring from competition, and went on to make public service announcements and appear in printed ads and on posters warning young people about the potential dangers and potential health risks of abusing steroids.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/ThisWeek/ucm117728.htm |title=This Week in FDA History |publisher=Fda.gov |access-date=July 6, 2009}}</ref>

In 2002, Ventura was hospitalized for a severe [[Medicine:Thrombus|blood clot]] in his lungs, the same kind of injury that ended his wrestling career.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/07/09/ventura/index.html |title=Ventura hospitalized with blood clot in lung |date=July 9, 2002 |access-date=October 20, 2008 |work=CNN |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207070454/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/07/09/ventura/index.html |archive-date=December 7, 2008 }}</ref>

===Religion===
Ventura has said that he was baptized a Lutheran.<ref>{{cite web|last=Karr|first=Christopher|title=Jesse Ventura on Politics, Keith Richards, and Why He's an Atheist|url=http://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1254-jesse-ventura-politics-keith-richards-and-why-hes-atheist|work=Highbrow Magazine|date=June 21, 2012|access-date=December 13, 2012}}</ref>

In 1999, Ventura said in an NBC News interview that he was baptized a Lutheran, but he later came out as an atheist on ''The Joe Rogan Experience''.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Religious Affiliation of Jesse Ventura Professional Wrestler and Governor of Minnesota|url=http://www.adherents.com/people/pv/Jesse_Ventura.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050609075829/http://www.adherents.com/people/pv/Jesse_Ventura.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=June 9, 2005|access-date=March 22, 2012}}</ref> In a ''Playboy'' interview, Ventura said, "Organized religion is a [[Religion:Criticism of religion|sham]] and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business. I live by the golden rule: Treat others as you'd want them to treat you. The [[Social:Christian right|religious right]] wants to tell people how to live."<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/01/us/ventura-says-religion-is-for-weak.html Ventura Says Religion Is For Weak] New York Times. October 1, 1999. Retrieved February 5, 2015.</ref> In his 1999 bestselling memoir ''I Ain't Got Time to Bleed'', Ventura responded to the controversy sparked by these remarks by elaborating on his views concerning religion:

{{blockquote|I'd like to clarify my comments published in ''Playboy'' about religious people being weak-minded. I didn't mean all religious people. I don't have any problem with the vast majority of religious folks. I count myself among them, more or less. But I believe because it makes sense to me, not because I think it can be proven. There are lots of people out there who think they know the truth about God and religion, but does anybody really know for sure? That's why the Founding Fathers built freedom of religious belief into the structure of this nation, so that everybody could make up their minds for themselves. But I do have a problem with the people who think they have some right to try to impose their beliefs on others. I hate what the fundamentalist fanatics are doing to our country. It seems as though, if everybody doesn't accept their version of reality, that somehow invalidates it for them. Everybody must believe the same things they do. That's what I find weak and destructive.<ref name=Principles/>}}

In April 2011, Ventura said on ''The Howard Stern Show'' that he is an atheist and that his beliefs could disqualify him for office in the future, saying, "I don't believe you can be an atheist and admit it and get elected in our country."<ref name="The Howard Stern Show">{{Cite episode |series=Howard Stern Show|title=The Howard Stern Show |network=Sirius XM Radio |air-date=April 5, 2011 |minutes=143 |quote=Actually Howard, I can't even run for office anymore. [...] Like George [Takei] I've come out of the closet. ... I'm an atheist. ... I don't believe you can be an atheist and admit it and get elected in our country.}}</ref> In an October 2010 CNN interview, Ventura stated religion as being the "root of all evil", remarking that "you notice every war is fought over religion."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1010/15/cnr.08.html |title=Transcripts |publisher=CNN|access-date=December 15, 2012}}</ref>

As governor, Ventura endorsed [[Social:Social equality|equal rights]] for [[Religion:Minority religion|religious minorities]], as well as people who [[Religion:Irreligion|do not believe in God]], by declaring July 4, 2002, "Indivisible Day". He inadvertently proclaimed October 13–19, 2002 "Christian Heritage Week" in Minnesota.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9907E7DF1F3BF931A3575BC0A9649C8B63 |title=National Briefing &#124; Midwest: Minnesota: Christians One Up On Ventura|newspaper=The New York Times |author=Napolitano, Jo|date=August 2, 2002 |access-date=October 20, 2008}}</ref>

==Championships and accomplishments==
* '''American Wrestling Association'''
** AWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Adrian Adonis<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.solie.org/titlehistories/ttawa.html|title=Solie's Title Histories: AWA – American Wrestling Association|website=www.solie.org|access-date=December 23, 2019}}</ref>
* '''Cauliflower Alley Club'''
** Iron Mike Mazurki Award (1999)
* '''Central States Wrestling'''
** NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(Central States version)'' (1 time) – with Tank Patton<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.solie.org/titlehistories/csttnwa.html |title=NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(Central States version)'' history |publisher=Solie.org |access-date=December 15, 2012}}</ref>
* '''Continental Wrestling Association'''
** AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (2 times)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/cwa/awa-s-h.html |title=AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship history |publisher=Wrestling-titles.com |access-date=December 15, 2012}}</ref>
* '''George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame'''
** Frank Gotch Award (2003)
* '''NWA Hawaii'''
** NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Steve Strong<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/hi/hi-t.html |title=NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship history |publisher=Wrestling-titles.com |access-date=December 15, 2012}}</ref>
* '''Pacific Northwest Wrestling'''
** NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship (2 times)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.solie.org/titlehistories/pnwhtnwa.html |title=NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship history |publisher=Solie.org |access-date=December 15, 2012}}</ref><ref name=Jan17F4W>{{cite web | url=https://www.f4wonline.com/other-wrestling/daily-pro-wrestling-history-0117-vader-wins-iwgp-heavyweight-title-301956 | title=Pro wrestling history (01/17): Vader wins IWGP heavyweight title | date=January 17, 2019 | access-date=January 18, 2019 | work=Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online | first=Brian | last=Hoops}}</ref>
** NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Bull Ramos (2), Buddy Rose (2) and Jerry Oates (1)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.solie.org/titlehistories/pnwttnwa.html|title=Solie's Title Histories: NWA – National Wrestling Alliance|website=www.solie.org|access-date=December 23, 2019}}</ref>
* '''''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'''''
** Ranked No. 239 of the top 500 singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/pwi/pwi500yr.htm |access-date=September 6, 2010 |title=Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 500 – PWI Years |publisher=Wrestling Information Archive |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515112842/http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/pwi/pwi500yr.htm |archive-date=May 15, 2011 }}</ref>
** Ranked No. 67 of the top 100 tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Adrian Adonis<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/pwi/pwi100tg.htm |access-date=March 10, 2009 |title=Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Top 100 Tag Teams of the PWI Years |publisher=Wrestling Information Archive |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325080845/http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/pwi/pwi100tg.htm |archive-date=March 25, 2009 }}</ref>
* '''''Ring Around The Northwest Newsletter'''''
** Wrestler of the Year (1976)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kayfabememories.com/Regions/pnw/pnw16.htm |title=Regional Territories: PNW #16 |author=Rodgers, Mike |date=2004 |website=KayfabeMemories.com }}</ref>
* '''World Wrestling Entertainment'''
** WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2004)<ref name=OWOW/>
* '''Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards'''
** Best Color Commentator (1987–1990)<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Jan. 19, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: 18th Annual Newsletter Awards Issue|last = Meltzer|first = Dave|date = January 19, 1998|journal = Wrestling Observer Newsletter}}</ref>

==Electoral history==

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan=4 | 1990 Brooklyn Park mayoral election<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fry |first=Darrell |date=1990-11-08 |title=Now it's Jesse 'The Governing Body' Ventura |pages=35 |work=Tampa Bay Times |url=https://tampabay.newspapers.com/article/tampa-bay-times-now-its-jesse-the-gove/125166228/ |access-date=2023-05-22}}</ref>
|-
!Name
!Votes
!Percent
!Outcome
|-
|-
|'''Jesse Ventura, non-partisan'''
|12,728
|63.3
|gain
|-
|-
|Jim Krautkremer (inc.), non-partisan
|7,390
|36.7
|loss
|}

{{Election box begin | title=1998 Minnesota gubernatorial election}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link|
 |party      = Reform Party (Minnesota)
 |candidate  = Jesse Ventura
 |votes      = 773,713
 |percentage = 37.0
 |change     = ''n/a''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
 |party      = Republican Party of Minnesota
 |candidate  = Norm Coleman
 |votes      = 717,350
 |percentage = 34.3
 |change     = -29.0
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
 |party      = Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party
 |candidate  = Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III
 |votes      = 587,528
 |percentage = 28.1
 |change     = -6.0
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
 |party      = Green Party (United States)
 |candidate  = Ken Pentel
 |votes      = 7,034
 |percentage = 0.3
 |change     = ''n/a''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
 |party      =
 |candidate  = Others
 |votes      = 5,365
 |percentage = 0.3
 |change     = ''n/a''
}}
{{Election box candidate|
 |party      =
 |candidate  = Write-ins
 |votes      = 776
 |percentage =
 |change     = ''n/a''
}}
{{Election box majority|
 |votes      = 56,363
 |percentage = 2.7
 |change     =
}}
{{Election box turnout|
 |votes      = 2,091,766
 |percentage = 60.0
 |change     =
}}
{{Election box gain with party link|
  |winner     = Reform Party (Minnesota)
  |loser      = Republican Party (United States)
  |swing      =
}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin |title=2020 United States presidential election in Alaska<ref>{{cite web |title=General Election Results Summary |url=https://www.elections.alaska.gov/results/20GENR/data/sovc/ElectionSummaryReportRPT24.pdf |website=Alaska Division of Elections |access-date=November 30, 2020}}</ref>}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link|party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate=Donald Trump<br />Mike Pence|votes=189,951|percentage=52.8|change=+1.6}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|party=Democratic Party (United States)|candidate=Joe Biden<br />Kamala Harris|votes=153,778|percentage=42.8|change=+6.2}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|party=Libertarian Party (United States)|candidate=Jo Jorgensen<br />Spike Cohen|votes=8,897|percentage=2.5|change=−3.4}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|party=Green Party of Alaska|candidate='''Jesse Ventura'''<br />Cynthia McKinney|votes=2,673|percentage=0.7|change=−1.1}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|party=Constitution Party (United States)|candidate=[[Biography:Don Blankenship|Don Blankenship]]<br />William Mohr|votes=1,127|percentage=0.3|change=−0.9}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|party=Independent (politician)|candidate=Brock Pierce<br />Karla Ballard|votes=825|percentage=0.2|change=N/A}}{{Election box candidate with party link|party=Alliance Party (United States)|candidate=Rocky De La Fuente<br />Darcy Richardson|votes=318|percentage=0.1|change=N/A}}
{{Election box write-in with party link
| votes =1,961
| percentage =0.6
| change =N/A
}}
{{Election box total
| votes      =359,530
| percentage =100
| change =+6.7
}}
{{Election box hold with party link|
  |winner     = Republican Party (United States)
  |loser      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |swing      =
}}
{{Election box end}}

==Bibliography==
* ''I Ain't Got Time to Bleed: Reworking the Body Politic from the Bottom Up'' (1999) {{ISBN|978-0-375-50332-0}}
* ''Do I Stand Alone? Going to the Mat Against Political Pawns and Media Jackals'' (2000) {{ISBN|978-0-7434-0586-7}}
* ''Jesse Ventura Tells it Like it Is: America's Most Outspoken Governor Speaks Out About Government'' (August 1, 2002, co-authored with Heron Marquez) {{ISBN|978-0-8225-0385-9}}
* ''Don't Start the Revolution Without Me!'' (2008, co-authored with Dick Russell) {{ISBN|978-1-60239-273-1}}
* ''American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies, and More Dirty Lies That the Government Tells Us'' (2010, co-authored with Dick Russell) {{ISBN|978-1-60239-802-3}}. Updated and revised edition (2015, co-authored with Dick Russell) {{ISBN|978-1-6345-0545-1}}
* ''63 Documents the Government Doesn't Want You to Read'' (2011, co-authored with Dick Russell) {{ISBN|978-1-61608-226-0}}
* ''DemoCRIPS and ReBLOODlicans: No More Gangs in Government'' (2012, co-authored with Dick Russell) {{ISBN|978-1-6160-8448-6}}
* ''They Killed Our President: 63 Reasons to Believe There Was a Conspiracy to Assassinate JFK'' (2013, with Dick Russell & David Wayne) {{ISBN|978-1-6263-6139-3}}
* ''Sh*t Politicians Say: The Funniest, Dumbest, Most Outrageous Things Ever Uttered By Our "Leaders"'' (2016) {{ISBN|978-1-5107-1417-5}}
* ''Marijuana Manifesto'' (2016) {{ISBN|978-1-5107-1424-3}}

==See also==
* List of American politicians who switched parties in office
{{clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* deFiebre, Conrad. "Record-high job approval for Ventura; Many Minnesotans like his style, don't mind moonlighting". ''Star Tribune'' July 22, 1999: 1A+.
* deFiebre, Conrad. "Using body language, Ventura backs Kerry". ''Star Tribune'' October 23, 2004: 1A+.
* Kahn, Joseph P. "[https://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/02/25/the_body_politic/ The Body Politic]". ''The Boston Globe'' February 25, 2004. Accessed April 28, 2004.
* Olson, Rochelle and Bob von Sternberg. "GOP demands equal time; Wellstone aide apologizes; Ventura upset". ''Minneapolis Star-Tribune'' October 31, 2002: 1A+.

==External links==
{{Commons}}
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{C-SPAN|57375}}
* [http://collections.mnhs.org/governors/10004131 Minnesota Historical Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125115449/http://collections.mnhs.org/governors/10004131 |date=November 25, 2020 }}
* [https://www.ontheissues.org/Jesse_Ventura.htm Issue positions and quotes] at On the Issues
* [https://www.politifact.com/personalities/jesse-ventura/ Fact-checking] at PolitiFact.com
* {{twitter|GovJVentura}}
* [http://www.ora.tv/offthegrid Off The Grid with Jesse Ventura]
* [https://jesseventura.substack.com/ Jesse Ventura] at Substack

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[[Category:Critics of religions]]

{{Sourceattribution|Jesse Ventura}}