Pete Najarian joined the Gopher football team in 1982. He played linebacker, was All-Big Ten for three straight years, and played in the NFL with the Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He then went into finance, working with his brother Jon as an options trader. He’s been part of CNBC’s “Fast Money” for a number of years. Pete also was part of the running to be Athletic Director, and even President of the University of Minnesota, his alma mater.
Now, could a run at Governor be in the works? According to Najarian, it’s possible.
Speaking to Cory Hepola on News Talk 830 WCCO Monday, Najarian confirmed a statement he made towards running for Minnesota Governor on Twitter over the weekend.
“It’s potentially there," Najarian told Hepola. “The reality is a few years ago, about three years ago, I was asked what kind of interest level I would have, and I wouldn't really say who was out there, but a variety of different folks out there from the business community talking to me, just asking. Would this be something I would ever want to do? And the answer at the time was probably not. Over time, I've done a little bit more listening, at least to the people that have actually reached out to me for something like that. So, I guess what I would say is I'm not completely saying it’s not in the cards because it really could be potentially.”
Najarian recognizes it's a different role than he's had, but also says he feels like he is prepared for a change such as this.
“It's a big step," said Najarian, who is a WCCO Radio contributor on financial news and sports. "It's a completely different world, but it's not so different from when they wanted me to be the athletic director, when they actually had asked me and I've been part of the running for the presidency at the University of Minnesota. Believe it or not I was interested in those jobs. And a lot of that is really politics. So that's what kind of made me start to think, you know, maybe this isn't as far-fetched as it sounded the first time I heard it, and I've heard it a lot over the last couple of years. So it's a possibility.”
Najarian also confirmed if he ran, it would likely be as an independent candidate, similar to Jesse Ventura who ran in 1998 as an independent and won.
“There are certain things that I absolutely probably lean to the left on.
There's certain things that I definitely lean to the right on. So I think independent does make a lot of sense because I don't know that I felt I find myself in the box of anybody so independently, probably where I would go on.”
Najarian also spoke about Jesse Ventura, who remains his close friend to this day. Ventura severed one term as Governor from 1999-2003.
“Obviously Jesse is proof that it can work. Jesse, I'll tell you what, he is the most well-read guy you will ever meet in your life. He's still unbelievably sharp. And with all the things that he's done in his lifetime, he still is extremely proud of what he was able to accomplish, what he did when he was the governor here. And so, you know, it's interesting. It’s something to consider for sure.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is in the middle of his first term and the next Election will take place in 2022.