Kane stomped through WWE rings as the Big Red Machine. Then he swapped the mask for a mayor’s office in East Tennessee.

One of Tennessee’s best-known Senators is chasing a brand-new job. And if she lands it, a seat in Washington, DC could open up fast.

But the wrestling legend just gave one answer about that seat that has the Volunteer State’s political crowd buzzing.

The Big Red Machine Gets the Senate Question

Folks who watched wrestling in the late 1990s know the character. Glenn Jacobs broke into the business in 1992, and a few years later he pulled on the red mask of Kane, the storyline half-brother of the Undertaker.

The pyrotechnics, the chokeslams, the Brothers of Destruction tag team. All of it made Jacobs a household name in a lot of living rooms.

Then he walked away from the ring and into local politics. Knox County voters elected him mayor in 2018, giving him better than 66% of the vote against Democrat Linda Haney, according to the Floridian Press. He won a second term in 2022, and term limits closed out his tenure in September 2026.

US Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is the reason his name keeps popping up again. Blackburn captured the Republican nomination for governor in August, running on economic growth, border security, and backing law enforcement. She faces Democrat Jerri Green, a Memphis City Councilwoman and the city’s Chief Public Defender, on November 3.

If Blackburn wins, she takes the governor’s office in January 2027. And Axios reported that Blackburn intends to keep her Senate seat until she’s sworn in, which hands her the power to name an interim replacement. That appointee would serve a partial term until the next statewide election in 2028.

Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin put the question straight to Jacobs during an interview on the Fox News Rundown podcast.

Jacobs didn’t grab the microphone and cut a promo. He played it cool at first.

“Well, for me, that is something that I’m very honored that people would say about me,” Jacobs said.

He pointed out that Blackburn still has a governor’s race to win. “And she’s going to. I’m a big part of that,” he added.

“I’m her campaign treasurer, and I’ve been traveling around with her. So at this point, that’s the most important part is to make sure that Marsha Blackburn is the next governor of the great state of Tennessee,” Jacobs continued.

But Melugin’s question hung in the air. And Jacobs eventually gave a real answer.

“Yeah, obviously it’s a huge honor for me, so I would consider it very seriously,” Jacobs said.

He went further on the Brian Kilmeade Show podcast. “I would say that I would do it. Yes, yes, I would,” Jacobs said, according to Fox News.

Jacobs also offered a line that any old Kane fan will appreciate. Talking about his years running Knox County, he said the mayor is “the face of everything,” and “you’re also the closest to the flame, so you feel the heat.”

For a guy who used to walk out through a wall of fire every Monday night on television, that’s a pretty fitting way to describe local government.

How Blackburn Ended Up Holding the Pen

None of this happened by accident. Jacobs spent months laying the groundwork for his own run at the governor’s mansion through his Big Red PAC. Then he stepped aside in January 2025 and endorsed Blackburn, a close friend, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. The paper reported his PAC had already sent $3,000 to Blackburn’s Senate campaign fund.

He’s been at her side ever since, working as her campaign treasurer.

President Donald Trump threw his weight behind Blackburn the day after her primary win over John Rose. “I know Marsha well, and she has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Governor of the Great State of Tennessee. Congratulations Marsha!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Blackburn’s camp insists nobody is drawing up a list of successors. “She has been very clear there will be no discussions about a potential replacement until the appropriate time,” campaign manager Abigail Sigler told Axios.

But Tennessee Republicans are talking anyway. Axios noted that governors have filled Senate vacancies by appointment 34 times since 2000, according to the US Senate Historical Office. US Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN), who represents the state’s 2nd Congressional District and once held the same Knox County mayor’s job Jacobs just left, has confirmed his own interest, according to Colorado Politics. SEScoops reported that former CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger, a major Blackburn donor, also gets mentioned as a contender.

So the old Big Red Machine is hardly the only name in the ring.

Why the Washington Crowd Keeps Doubting the Big Man

Here’s the part the political insiders don’t quite know what to do with.

Back when Blackburn first launched her campaign in 2025, a Colorado Politics piece flagged Jacobs’ “ideological distance from the MAGA base” as a possible problem for any Senate ambitions. The same piece noted he has used his platform to champion small government and individual liberty.

And that’s an odd knock. Small government and individual liberty sit at the heart of what millions of Trump voters asked for in 2024.

Trump himself doesn’t seem bothered. He posted on Truth Social in May that Jacobs “has a BIG political future in Tennessee” and called him “A great guy!!!” Jacobs answered by thanking the President and saying Tennessee is “all in for the America First Agenda,” according to SEScoops. The Floridian Press also noted Jacobs endorsed Trump in the 2024 election.

That’s a long way from distance.

What the doubters seem to really mean is that Jacobs doesn’t fit the usual mold. He didn’t climb the committee ladder in a state capitol. He didn’t spend twenty years as a staffer learning which lobbyist to call. He spent a chunk of his life getting thrown through announce tables for a living, and then he went home and ran a county.

But that kind of background used to be what Americans wanted in a citizen legislator. Somewhere along the way, the political class decided only lifers could be trusted with a Senate vote.

Whether Blackburn ever taps Jacobs is her call alone, and only if Tennessee voters send her to the governor’s office first. Plenty can happen before November 3, and plenty more before any appointment lands in January.

Still, the answer Jacobs gave Melugin tells you something. A guy angling for a seat usually dodges the question all the way to the finish line. Jacobs started with the dodge, then said yes twice.

And if the seat does come open, whoever fills it won’t get to sit back and enjoy the view. The appointee faces voters in 2028, and then the seat comes up again for a full six-year term in 2030.

That’s two elections in four years. For a former wrestler who once called himself the closest to the flame, the heat would only be getting started.

Sources:

“WWE legend Kane open to Tennessee Senate appointment as Blackburn eyes governor’s mansion,” Fox News

“Sen Marsha Blackburn could appoint her own replacement in the Senate,” Axios

“Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs endorses Sen Marsha Blackburn for governor,” Knoxville News Sentinel

“Blackburn’s governor run kicks off jockeying for Tennessee Senate seat,” Colorado Politics

“Could Former WWE Superstar Glenn Jacobs Replace Marsha Blackburn in the Senate?,” Floridian Press

“Kane Viewed As Top Contender To Replace Blackburn In US Senate,” SEScoops