Jesse Louis Jackson, Jr. (D)
About The Candidate
- Office Sought: Representative, Illinois (2)
- Birth Date: March 11, 1965
- Occupation: Community Activist
- Religion: Baptist
- Web site: http://www.jessejacksonjr.org
Education
- Chicago Theological Seminary, MA
- North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, BS
- University of Illinois, JD
Jesse Louis Jackson Jr. was born in Greenville, S.C., and resides on Chicago's South Side.
In 1987, he graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C., with a bachelor of science degree in business management. Three years later, he graduated with a master's degree from the Chicago Theological Seminary. In 1993, he received a law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law. He has been awarded several honorary degrees.
Jackson was the president of the Keep Hope Alive PAC in 1989 and 1990. He served as the vice president of Operation PUSH from 1991 to 1995 and as national field director for the National Rainbow Coalition from 1993 to 1995.
He was elected to the House in a special election in 1995.
In 1996, he coauthored a book about the death penalty with his father, the famed civil rights leader, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, titled "Legal Lynching." He has also co-authored "A More Perfect Union: Advancing New American Rights" (2001); "Legal Lynching II" (2001); and "It's About the Money" (1999).
He was re-elected to his first full term in 1996.
The sixth-term Congressman is the national co-chair of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
He and his wife, Sandi, have two children.
