Political Reporter Mary Lahammer Opens a Behind-the-Scenes Door to the Making of Jesse Ventura Shocks the World!
What was it like from your perspective to be an early career female reporter in 1998, when many of your fellow reporters were likely men? It was really a male-dominated field and actually I think it helped me with Ventura because it made me different. He also came to respect that I was plenty feisty and that you weren't going to push me around.
Twin Cities PBS political reporter Mary Lahammer was an early-career journalist when Jesse Ventura made international headlines with his seemingly overnight transformation from pro wrestler to Minnesota governor. During his time in office and beyond, she developed a level of trust with Ventura that led to decades of filmed interviews – and those interviews are the foundation for a new TPT film, Jesse Ventura Shocks the World! , that takes viewers on a rollicking journey to better understand his political impact today.
Why is the Jesse Ventura story important to you?
I guess it's important to me because it's my life's work. I started this job in ‘98 when he filed for office. It's literally one of the first stories I covered and then to have this international news story just explode and drop in my lap as a new young reporter was an amazing opportunity.
Why do you feel his story is relevant today?
The latest polling shows that it's a record all- time high for independent party identification in the country right now, or more than 40% of Americans are identifying as independents – and he was an independent candidate. Party identification for Democrats and Republicans is down to 20 some percent. So I feel like that statistically is the best justification.
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MARCH 2024
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