'Illustrious' Ex-Pro Wrestler Enters Ring In Race For Illinois Governor

DEERFIELD, IL — A former professional wrestler is running for governor as a member of the Libertarian Party. Deerfield resident Jon "The Illustrious One" Stewart, 50, has run for office as a Republican in the past but the election of President Donald Trump has opened up new space for third party candidates, he said.

"The state is run by a hierarchy, a ponzi scheme of politicians, where the bottom people on the ponzi scheme — we, the voters — are going to lose the most," Stewart told Patch. He said has heard a consistent message of disgust with both major parties from Illinois voters.

Stewart said he was Kellyanne Conway's first political client when he ran as a Republican for the state House in 1997. In 1999, he ran again as a Republican in a contentious 11-person primary for Congress, which was eventually won by now former U.S. Senator Mark Kirk. (Sign up for our free daily newsletters and breaking news alerts for the Deerfield Patch or another community.)

Stewart said he had a falling out with the Illinois Republican Party after it demanded $5 million from potential candidates to replace John Ryan as the party's nominee for Senate in 2004. Stewart and Mike Ditka both refused to pony up the cash, he said. Alan Keyes was the eventual nominee and won 27 percent of votes statewide.

"The Illustrious One" ran again for Congress in 2009, seeking the seat vacated by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel when he took a job as President Barack Obama's chief of staff. He received 368 votes and finished in sixth place out of six candidates.

As a wrestler, Stewart's persona was that of an evil corporate raider, he said. He was a performer with the American Wrestling Association, which was broadcast on ESPN in the late '80s and early '90s, before going on to start and produce Wrestling Superstars Live.

After retiring from wrestling in 2008, Stewart became president of a car dealership in Chicago's Northwest Side Norwood Park neighborhood started by his father 33 years ago, Stewart said.

Stewart said people are disgusted with a political system that's left Illinois headed for bankruptcy and businesses fleeing the state.

"There's unsavory characters in both politics and wrestling," Stewart said, describing the two as similar pursuits with different costumes.

In wrestling, he has "actually met more upstanding people that I could trust and honor their word than in politics," he said.

"Professional wrestling has made me very comfortable behind the mic, it's made me very comfortable with myself personally," Stewart said. "There's this freedom that a wrestler has after he gets out of the wrestling world... I'm not uncomfortable with any facts or truths or anything that I might say that might make people uncomfortable."

What kind of uncomfortable truths?

"'Your state is going bankrupt,' 'You've been lied to,' 'Take your head out of the sand, it's time to face facts.'"

Stewart said he voted for Trump in 2016, which could prove controversial among fellow Libertarians whose votes he will need at the party's convention.

"I don't know why they're irritated with me," Stewart said. "I don't know why the Libertarians in Illinois are not mad at Gary Johnson."

He said Johnson wasted vast sums of money during the 2016 campaign and was exposed as ignorant and inappropriate by his lack of knowledge about the siege of the Syrian city of Aleppo and a hand gesture he made to a female reporter that Stewart described as obscene.

Illinois Libertarian Party members Kash Jackson and Matt Scaro are also seeking the party's nomination for governor at a convention next April, according to the Tribune's Chicago Inc. column, which first reported Stewart's candidacy.

Despite gaining national media attention for his bid for Congress, Stewart said he is still remembered for when a Utah high school accidentally hired him to host a charity gala, thinking he was the Jon Stewart of "Daily Show" fame.

Watch some of Stewart's past performances as "The Illustrious One" below:

Top photo: Jon Stewart | Provided