WWE’s Kane (real name Glenn Jacobs) won a Republican Primary on Tuesday night in Knox County, Tennessee. Just barely.
Out of 40,545 votes cast by Republican primary voters, Jacobs emerged victorious by a margin of 17 votes over Brad Anders. That equates to a 0.04% winning percentage. Bob Thomas finished in third place with 11,296 votes. If you’ve ever thought your vote doesn’t matter, leave it to the Big Red Machine to prove otherwise.
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This race was to select the Republican Party’s candidate for the mayoral race this summer. Though Jacobs has usually identified himself as a Libertarian, he has participated in Republican politics in the past.
Both Anders and Thomas are Knox County commissioners and were considered favorites heading into the primary. Jacobs received a lot of national attention for his bid due to his connection to the wrestling business, even bringing in The Undertaker for a fund raising event.
Though Tuesday night’s race was a primary, it is largely expected that the Republican candidate will go on to become the next mayor of Knox County as the area is heavily Republican. Donald Trump won the county by 23.9% over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
On Tuesday night, the Knox County Democratic primary garnered a total of 6,208 voters compared to the GOP Primary’s 40,545. Though a primary can’t necessarily predict the general election result, the huge discrepancy in voter turnout for each party is a telling sign.
While most political pundits expect 2018 to be a big year for Democrats due to Republican President Donald Trump’s historic low approval ratings, it’s unlikely that a Republican candidate like Glenn Jacobs will be negatively impacted too much in a county like Knox County, Tennessee where the voters are so overwhelmingly conservative.
The Knox County general election will take place on August 2nd.
