Jonathon Sharkey

Sharkey says that he would ban abortion and the teaching of evolution in public schools. On other social issues, he leans libertarian; he supports equal rights for gays. He opposes President Obama's health care reform and said that he would replace it with a plan of his own in which the poor would receive free medical and dental care; the expenses would be paid with government taxes on marijuana and prostitution, which Sharkey supports legalizing and regulating. On foreign policy, he wishes to bring American troops home from foreign war zones. In keeping with his belief in the goddess Hecate, he supports environmentalism and "protecting Mother Earth". He said that his ideal running mate would be former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman. During the 2012 election, he criticized Republican rival Michele Bachmann as "too flakey for me".

In 2010, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children issued an alert after a 16-year-old girl, Paige Brewer, from Faribault, Minnesota ran away with Sharkey. The alert described Brewer as an "endangered runaway". Brewer's mother eventually won a court order keeping Sharkey away from her daughter, who was taken into custody by police and returned home.

Sharkey's 2006 bid for Minnesota governor was cut short after Sharkey was arrested by Minnesota police on an outstanding Indiana arrest warrant, sent to Mille Lacs County jail and extradited to Indiana.

Sharkey has filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for President of the United States twice as an Independent candidate (in 2004 and in 2008) and once as a Republican candidate (in 2012). He has run for Congress in at least three states—his home State of New Jersey (1999–2000, Republican), Indiana (Reform Party, 2000) and Florida (2001–02, Republican). In 2006, he ran for governor of Minnesota.

Originally a boxer, Sharkey began wrestling in 1988. He began his career with Larry Sharpe's WWA promotion, facing "Diamond Jim" Brady in a boxer vs. wrestler match. Following this, he worked with a number of other wrestling promoters including Rocky Johnson, father of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. He cites his greatest wrestling influences as Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat.

Sharkey was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey and joined the United States Army in 1981. Following his discharge on medical grounds in 1983, he studied at Kansas State University. He formerly lived in Minnesota but moved to Florida in 2010. Sharkey has three living children, and a fourth child who is now deceased.

Jonathon Tepes Sharkey (born John Albert Sharkey; April 2, 1964) is an American perennial candidate and former professional wrestler. He resides in Florida and initially attempted to run for President as a Republican in 2012. On August 24, 2011, he formally ended his presidential campaign.