Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs last week offered his approval to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, who he predicted will successfully return control over education to state governments during a live stream with Matt and Terry Kibbe to promote his appearance in their new series, “Wrestling with Economics.”
Jacobs performed as the professional wrestler Kane for more than two decades, including for years at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where Linda McMahon served as the chief executive officer for much of the same period, and said his experience at WWE made him confident in her abilities.
“Linda is an incredibly sharp lady,” said Jacobs. “Her mission is to work herself out of a job by dismantling the Department of Education and returning power over education to the states, which is something that I’d definitely like to see.”
He later told the hosts of the live stream, “She said that was her mission. I believe that and look forward to it.”
Wrestling with Economics: LIVE Kickoff with Glenn Jacobs
WWE Hall-of-Famer “Kane” and mayor of Knox County, TN @GlennJacobsTN, sits down live with @mkibbe and @tkibbe to discuss Austrian economics and our new series followed by a Q&A. https://t.co/z5e8D7uGVR— Free the People (@freethepeople) August 13, 2025
Jacobs suggested that returning control to local districts and governments is popular with voters, noting that the Tennessee Education Freedom Plan, passed earlier this year during a special session, received more applications than available scholarships.
“It was amazing because we had 20,000 scholarships available, 38,000 families applied for those 20,000 scholarships. So the demand was huge,” said Jacobs.
The mayor then appeared to suggest that McMahon’s actions at the federal level could make it easier for Tennessee, and other states, to expand the choices offered to parents.
“Because everything is top-down from Washington, D.C. Districts, localities, and states, they can’t really experiment, try different things, and compete with each other,” said Jacobs. “The art of education has been destroyed because of bureaucracy.”
He told Matt and Terry Kibbe, “I think that, as we see, hopefully, power returning to the states, it will give the states the ability to be more flexible, in different localities, to try different things.”
First elected as Knox County’s mayor in 2022, Jacobs was reelected in 2022, and is thus unable to run for a third consecutive term. Previously considered as a possible candidate for Governor of Tennessee, the mayor endorsed U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) to become governor in April.
Jacobs announced last week that he will serve as Blackburn’s campaign treasurer.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Mayor Glenn Jacobs and Education Sec. Linda McMahon” by Linda McMahon.
