Former Gov. Jesse Ventura will return to the Minnesota political stage Sept. 2, lending his big voice and strong opinions to an alternative rally for GOP Rep. Ron Paul during the Republican National Convention.

Rally for the Republic spokesman Jesse Benton predicted Ventura’s appearance would boost national interest in the two-day rally at the Target Center in Minneapolis for Paul, the Texas congressman and unsuccessful presidential candidate.

“He’s a great voice for freedom and limited government,” Benton said of Ventura. “He’s got a lot of charisma and a lot of credibility, and we’re very happy that he’s going to lend his voice to some of the other great freedom advocates that will be there with us that day.”

In a YouTube video announcing Ventura’s appearance, Paul said the governor is a “big draw… He supports our views. He’s against this war. He’s for civil liberties.”

A spokeswoman for Ventura’s book publisher, Skyhorse Publishing, confirmed that Ventura had agreed to speak at the rally. “It’s something that he wanted to do,” she said, declining to elaborate.

The author, former professional wrestler and Brooklyn Park mayor could not be reached for comment.

Paul himself asked rally organizers to invite Ventura, said Marianne Stebbins, the candidate’s Minnesota campaign coordinator. “He insisted on it,” she said.

That may come as a surprise since Ventura didn’t endorse Paul and doesn’t embrace all of his anti-tax and small-government views. For instance, the former governor proposed tax increases to erase a state budget deficit and was an outspoken advocate for light-rail transit.

“They don’t agree on everything,” Benton acknowledged, “but they do agree that we want real limited government, a strong national defense but not policing the world, and we want to obey the Constitution. So there’s a lot of commonality there, a lot of room for agreement and a lot of mutual respect.”

Stebbins said Ventura would bring some ideological diversity to the rally. “The rest of the lineup will be Republican giants. Jesse brings real independence to the lineup,” she said.

Earlier this month, Ventura flirted with jumping back into Minnesota politics by running for the U.S. Senate. But he backed out the night before filings closed, citing personal and family reasons. Nonetheless, he got a lot of national media attention with his will-he-or-won’t-he ploy.

Ventura’s return to the Target Center will be a homecoming of sorts. That’s where, in January 1999, he held his governor’s inaugural celebration before a sell-out crowd of 13,800.