The independent presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is considering Minnesota’s former Reform Party governor, Jesse Ventura, as his running mate. The Navy veteran, professional wrestler, and actor would add muscle to Mr. Kennedy’s quest for ballot access and bring governing experience.

Third-party tickets have struggled to gain legitimacy in part because only three featured officeholders since 1968. In 1980, a Republican congressman, John Anderson of Illinois, was on the ballots in 49 states. 

In 2020, the Libertarian governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson, ran in all 50, up from 49 in his 2012 run. Two governors and a judge rounded out those tickets respectively.

On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that Mr. Kennedy had approached Mr. Ventura and the NFL quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, about the number-two spot. Both men “welcomed the overtures,” and Mr. Kennedy said they’re at the top of his list. 

In 1992 and 1996, the billionaire presidential candidate, H. Ross Perot, bankrolled the Reform Party to challenge the two-party system. Mr. Ventura — mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, as an independent from 1991 to 1995 — ran on its ticket in 1998, winning in an upset. 

Like Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Ventura parlayed name recognition and charisma to tap into voter dissatisfaction and urged citizens to vote against “politics as usual.” He served a single term, forgoing reelection or higher office.

“You’ve got to have your heart and soul into these types of jobs,” Mr. Ventura told Minnesota Public Radio in 2002. Adding up his four years in the Navy, four as mayor, and four as governor, he said, “That’s 12 years of public service that I’ve given.” 

Having starred in such films as 1987’s “Predator” alongside his fellow actor-turned-governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mr. Ventura grew tired of the spotlight. He cited a shift in the press attention that helped him win office on a shoestring budget, saying they covered less of his policies than his personal life. 

“I won’t have to answer to the press anymore,” he said in the radio interview. “I won’t have to justify anything I do any more. I’m going back to the private sector.” He rebranded his wrestling persona from Jesse “the Body” to Jesse “the Mind” to cast himself as a “statesman” not a politician. 

With the Reform Party having slipped into irrelevance, Mr. Ventura joined the Green Party in 2020. After flirting with taking its nomination, he endorsed its presidential candidate, Jill Stein, as he did in 2016. 

Although out of office, Mr. Ventura embraces his status as the only Reform Party candidate to win major office. “We must end the duopoly of Republican and Democrat control in Washington,” he wrote on X last month.

Mr. Ventura said that he supports Mr. Kennedy and “everyone else not running under the Democrat and Republican Party banner” for president. Announcing that he’d be introducing Mr. Kennedy at an event, the governor noted that for any “third party or independent candidate to succeed,” they’d need “ballot access.” 

Choosing a vice president now advances that goal. “Many states,” the AP reported on Tuesday, “require independent candidates to name a running mate before they can seek access to the ballot, a factor driving the early push for Mr. Kennedy to make a pick.” 

Other than celebrity appeal, it’s hard to see what Mr. Rodgers would deliver. He may draw fans in Wisconsin where he delivered a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers, but he has nothing like Mr. Ventura’s legendary “Predator” catchphrase, “I ain’t got time to bleed.” 

After it was reported that Mr. Rodgers refused to get a Covid vaccine, he was embraced by fellow mandate resisters, but that’s a chunk of the electorate Mr. Kennedy already has covered. Plus, Mr. Rodgers kept his decision quiet and has shown little appetite for politics.

Mr. Ventura may have grown tired of service, but after 20 years in private life, he’s open to a return. If he has the heart and soul to throw his hat in the ring with Mr. Kennedy, expect him to challenge the two-party system and give Americans their strongest third option in a generation.