Morning Digest: Jesse Ventura flirts with a comeback 28 years after shock win
The former professional wrestler could once again test if Minnesota is ready for his brand of politics
Leading Off
MN-Gov
Jesse Ventura, the former wrestling star who was elected governor in 1998 as a member of the Reform Party, said Thursday that he was thinking about running to regain his old office this year.
“I did one term,” Ventura told Fox 9. “I am owed a second.”
Ventura signaled that he would still not campaign as a member of either major party if he runs to succeed Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who announced Monday that he would not seek reelection.
While the former governor slammed Donald Trump as “the draft-dodging coward” and praised Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, another Democrat, for their response to the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent, he still trashed both parties.
“[S]omebody needs to clean up what the Democrats and Republicans constantly wreck,” said Ventura. “And you notice I lump them together.”
Ventura, 74, served as a Navy SEAL during the Vietnam War before he entered the public eye in the 1970s as the wrestler “Jesse ‘the Body’ Ventura.” He went on to rise to further fame by appearing in action movies like “Predator” and “The Running Man” alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Ventura would win elected office in 1990 when he was elected mayor of Brooklyn Park in the Minneapolis area. Few observers, however, gave him much of a chance of victory eight years later when he sought the state’s open governorship as a member of the Reform Party, the entity founded to promote Ross Perot’s 1996 presidential campaign.
But Ventura, who ran under the slogan “Retaliate in ‘98,” struck a chord with voters by positioning himself as a tough-talking alternative to the two-party system. He also argued that he’d lowered Brooklyn Park’s crime rate “because we had a mayor with a little bit of military background who knew how to go out and kick some butt.”
Ventura ended up defying skeptics by beating St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman, a former Democrat who had joined the GOP in 1996, 37-34; Attorney General Skip Humphrey, the Democratic nominee and the son of the late Vice President Hubert Humphry, secured third with 28%.
Ventura, who left the Reform Party during his tenure to join the Independence Party, spent his four years in office in constant conflict with Democrats and Republicans in the legislature, as well as a state press corp he labeled “jackals.” The governor also drew widespread attention for, among many other things, calling organized religion “a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers.”
Ventura’s struggle to deal with a large budget deficit further weakened his once-strong approval rating. The governor ultimately said in June of 2002 that he would not seek reelection. (Schwarzenegger, his former costar, would be elected governor of California as a Republican the next year.)
Ventura would flirt with running for the Senate in 2008 as an independent and for president in 2020 as a member of the Green Party, but he has yet to wage his long-hinted comeback effort. It seemed possible this could change in 2024 when the New York Times reported that Robert F. Kennedy was considering making Ventura, who was one of the most prominent figures to back his independent presidential campaign, his running mate.
Kennedy, however, instead went with Nicole Shanahan before he dropped out and endorsed Trump. Ventura went in a different direction and supported the Democratic ticket of Kamala Harris and Walz.
The ex-governor has until June 2 to decide if he wants to return to elective politics and claim the second term he says he’s “owed.”
Election Recaps
Special Elections
A recount conducted on Friday confirmed that Republican Greg Ford defeated Democrat Sonja Ogletree Satani 50.2 to 49.6—a margin of 21 votes— in the Jan. 6 special election for a seat in the South Carolina state House. Both Ford and Ogletree Satani have informed the SC Daily Gazette that they’ll run again this fall for a full two-year term.
Donald Trump had carried the 98th District by 7 points last year, and Democrats had only contested it three times in four decades prior to Ogletree Satani’s first unsuccessful bid in 2024.
4Q Fundraising
FL-Gov: Paul Renner (R): $2.4 million raised
KS-Gov: Scott Schwab (R): $1.3 million raised (in 2025); Vicki Schmidt (R): $980,000 raised (in 2025); Ethan Corson (D): $900,000 raised (in 2025)
NJ-07: Brian Varela (D): $200,000 raised, additional $550,000 self-funded, $1.4 million cash on hand
KS-AG: Chris Mann (D): $536,000 raised (in 2025)
Governors
KS-Gov
State Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes said Thursday that she would run for state insurance commissioner rather than campaign to succeed termed-out Gov. Laura Kelly, a fellow Democrat.
The main Democratic candidates competing in the Aug. 4 primary for governor are a pair of state senators: Ethan Corson, who has Kelly’s endorsement, and Cindy Holscher.
The GOP has a large lineup that includes Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt, whom Sykes and GOP state House Speaker Dan Hawkins are campaigning to replace. Schmidt’s intraparty opponents include former Gov. Jeff Colyer, state Senate President Ty Masterson, financial services executive Philip Sarnecki, and Secretary of State Scott Schwab.
WY-Gov
Donald Trump on Friday urged state Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder to run for governor of Wyoming and promised his “Complete and Total Endorsement” if she enters the Aug. 18 Republican primary.
Degenfelder responded by telling Cowboy State Daily, “When my president calls on me to serve my state and country, I’ll step up.” She added, “I think I’ll have more to say about that soon.”
This post is held by GOP Gov. Mark Gordon, who looks unlikely to challenge a state law that imposes a limit of two consecutive terms as governor. The Republican field currently includes state Sen. Eric Barlow, whom WyoFile columnist Kerry Drake wrote last month appears to be Gordon’s preferred successor, and conservative activist Brent Bien, who lost the 2022 primary to Gordon 62-30.
House
AZ-01
Former Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely on Thursday picked up the support of Speaker Mike Johnson and other members of the House GOP’s leadership team ahead of the Aug. 4 primary for Arizona’s open and swingy 1st District.
Johnson and his allies took sides two days after Donald Trump announced he was endorsing Feely in addition to state party chair Gina Swoboda, who previously had been the sole recipient of Trump’s blessing. Unlike Trump, though, Johnson is not backing another candidate to replace GOP Rep. David Schweikert, who is running for governor.
CA-26
Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin launched her campaign to succeed Rep. Julia Brownley on Thursday hours after the congresswoman announced she would not seek reelection, and Brownley quickly endorsed her fellow Democrat.
Irwin is the first major candidate to enter the race for California’s 26th District, a reliably blue constituency based in Ventura County north of Los Angeles. Potential candidates have until March 11 to enter the June 2 top-two primary.
FL-07
Attorney Noah Widmann said Friday that he was dropping out of the Democratic primary to take on scandal-ridden Rep. Cory Mills and endorsing Bale Dalton, a former NASA chief of staff.
Dalton is now the most prominent Democrat campaigning to face Mills in Florida’s 7th District, which includes the northern Orlando suburbs and part of the Daytona Beach area. Donald Trump carried the current incarnation of this constituency 56-43, though these numbers could change if Gov. Ron DeSantis succeeds in passing a new gerrymander in time for this year’s elections.
Mills, for his part, faces intraparty opposition from real estate agent Sarah Ulrich in the Aug. 18 primary.
IL-09
Businessman Bruce Leon said Thursday that he would remain in the packed March 17 Democratic primary after spending the previous week deliberating whether to continue his campaign for Illinois’ 9th District. Leon is one of 17 candidates competing in the March 17 primary for this safely blue seat.
KY-05
Veteran GOP operative Kevin Smith said Friday that he would oppose Rep. Hal Rogers, who is seeking a 24th term at the age of 88, in the May 19 primary for Kentucky’s dark red 5th Congressional District.
While Smith, whose launch came hours before candidate filing closed in the Bluegrass State, did not mention Rogers in his announcement, he framed his campaign as a chance to usher in a new era.
“Eastern Kentucky powered America’s past, and we deserve a fair shot at its future,” Smith said in a statement. “I’m running for Congress to fight for our families, our values and the next generation’s opportunity to build their lives right here at home.”
Rogers, who is the oldest voting member of the House (Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat who serves Washington, D.C., is about six months his senior) responded to Smith’s entry by reaffirming he would run again.
“We are working hard and aren’t done yet,” Rogers told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “Just this week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed millions in federal funding for Eastern Kentucky that I helped author as one of 12 cardinal members of the House Appropriations Committee.”
Rogers, who received Donald Trump’s endorsement last year, has also said that he remains in good health.
“I welcome people inspecting my record, my qualifications, my capability, my sanity,” he told the paper last month. “But in the end, I’m able to bring things home to East Kentucky by sitting at that table.”
Rogers’ 5th District backed Trump 81-17, making it the second-reddest House seat in the nation in 2025. (Trump’s top district was Alabama’s 4th, which is held by Rep. Robert Aderholt.) Rogers also claims the title of dean of the House thanks to his long service and a lucky coincidence: While New Jersey Republican Chris Smith was sworn in on the same day in 1981, Rogers has the advantage in seniority because he’s listed first in alphabetical order.
MD-05
Maryland Del. Adrian Boafo on Monday morning became the first major candidate to launch a campaign for the reliably blue 5th Congressional District in the days since longtime Rep. Steny Hoyer, a fellow Democrat, announced that he will not be seeking reelection.
Boafo, 31, said that the nation is “yearning for a new generation of leadership.” He joins healthcare executive Quincy Bareebe and public safety consultant Harry Jarin, who were running before Hoyer said that he’d be retiring, in a June 23 Democratic primary that could soon attract more names.
One of those potential candidates is Del. C.T. Wilson, who tells WTOP’s John Domen that he’s also interested in campaigning to succeed Hoyer.
Domen adds that Prince George’s County Councilmember Wala Blegay has also “made clear” that she’s considering running. An unnamed source also relays to Domen that former Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker is interested as well.
ME-02
Maine state Sen. Joe Baldacci announced Monday morning that he would run to succeed retiring Rep. Jared Golden, a fellow Democrat, in a conservative U.S. House district that is a top Republican pickup opportunity this fall.
“Maine’s Second District has already been rocked by mill closures, rising housing costs, and out-of-state interests cashing in as our towns get left behind,” Baldacci said. “Mainers deserve someone in Washington who answers only to the people of this district.”
Baldacci is the younger brother of John Baldacci, who represented a similar version of this constituency, which has long included Lewiston, Bangor, and more rural communities in the northern part of the state, for eight years before being elected governor in 2002. The older sibling left the governor’s office in early 2011 due to term limits, and his successor, Paul LePage, is the favorite to capture the GOP nomination on June 9 for this House seat.
Joe Baldacci, by contrast, faces two notable primary foes who each have a months-long head start. One of his opponents is Auditor Matt Dunlap, who began challenging Golden from the left in October a month before the congressman, who’s long cultivated a reputation as one of the most Trump-friendly Democrats in Congress, unexpectedly dropped out of the race in November.
The other is Jordan Wood, a former congressional aide who responded to the news of Golden’s departure by announcing that he would run to succeed him in the House rather than continue his campaign for the U.S. Senate. Both the party primaries and general election will be conducted using ranked-choice rules.
The 2nd District was Democratic-friendly turf when John Baldacci was first elected in 1994 to succeed Republican Olympia Snowe, who was leaving the House to wage a successful campaign for U.S. Senate. That victory represented one of just four pickups for House Democrats on a night where Newt Gingrich’s GOP was taking control of the lower chamber for the first time in 40 years.
John Baldacci held the 2nd with ease during his three reelection campaigns, and his successor, fellow Democrat Mike Michaud, successfully defended it in 2002 when Baldacci left to run for governor. But while Michaud also had little trouble remaining in the House, things started to go wrong for Democrats in 2014 when he decided to challenge LePage in the 2014 race for governor.
That year’s GOP wave helped lift LePage, a conservative hardliner who would later brag that he was “Trump before Trump,” to victory over Michaud as Republican Bruce Poliquin flipped the 2nd in an upset. But Democrats believed that the 2nd, which had convincingly supported Barack Obama during both his presidential campaigns, would revert to form in 2016, and they quickly identified it as a top pickup opportunity.
Joe Baldacci, who was a member of the Bangor City Council at the time, sought the Democratic nomination to face Poliquin, but he dropped out well before the primary after he struggled to raise money. Poliquin ultimately won a second term as his constituency swung hard in Trump’s direction.
But Golden, who narrowly unseated Poliquin during the 2018 blue wave, would repeatedly demonstrate that the electorate was still open to voting for Democrats down the ballot. The new congressman secured reelection in 2020 even as Trump was carrying his district again, a win that came as Baldacci was winning his first state Senate race.
Golden then thwarted Poliquin’s attempts at a comeback in 2022 as LePage, who had moved to Florida after being termed out as governor four years before, carried the 2nd District by a small 50-47 spread during his failed campaign to regain his old job from Democratic incumbent Janet Mills.
Golden, however, just barely held on in 2024 as Trump was prevailing here by a decisive 54-44 margin. That victory still made the 2nd the reddest Democratic-held House district in the nation, and the chamber’s Democratic leaders were initially relieved when Golden, who flirted with running for Senate or governor, announced in May that he’d seek a fifth term.
Democrats, though, still believe they can defeat LePage—who returned to Florida after his double-digit statewide loss to Mills—even without Golden on the ballot.
“Apparently Lepage is working on a makeover like the New Nixon of another time,” Baldacci wrote in a November social media post about the likely Republican nominee. “Unfortunately he can’t walk away from his record and how it damaged public schools, public health, property taxes, health care, cities and towns and public employees.”
NY-07
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani endorsed Assemblymember Claire Valdez on Friday ahead of the June 23 Democratic primary for the 7th Congressional District. Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso is the other major candidate running to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez, a fellow Democrat who is retiring after 17 terms representing this safely blue constituency.
NY-22
Assemblyman John Lemondes said Friday that he was dropping out of the Republican primary to face Democratic Rep. John Mannion in New York’s 22nd Congressional District in the Syracuse and Utica areas. Lemondes’ departure leaves Mannion without any serious opposition in a constituency that Kamala Harris carried 54-46.
Poll Pile
FL-Gov (R): Fabrizio, Lee & Associates (R) for Byron Donalds: Byron Donalds: 47, James Fishback: 5, Paul Renner: 4; Donalds: 45, Jay Collins: 6, Fishback: 4, Renner: 3. Collins is not currently running for governor.
Peltola is in https://bsky.app/profile/politico.com/post/3mca3zx3ylv2e
https://x.com/IAPolls2022/status/2010694856767623639
GALLUP Q4 PARTY ID (With indie leaners)
🟦 Democrat: 48%
🟥 Republican: 40%
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Party ID Trends
• Q4 2024: R+4 (GOP 47-43)
• Q4 2025: D+8 (Dem 48-40)
Net 12-point swing towards Democrats