Jesse Jackson’s Son, Jonathan Jackson, Announces Run For Congress
Illinois Congressman Bobby Rush announced this month that he would be ending his 30-year tenure in Congress. There are many people who are campaigning to represent Illinois1st Congressional District, and now the as popReverend Jesse Jackson’s son has entered the race.
According to The Chicago Tribune, Jonathan Jackson launched his campaign on Feb. 7 at the Amalgamated Transit Union Local with his father by his side, saying, “This is the 1st Congressional District of Illinois, the longest-serving district for African Americans in American history. I want the opportunity to pick up the mantle.”
He also added, "As we talk about raising wages to $15 dollars an hour, which it should be, we can't have the cost of child care at $20 dollars an hour. That's not math, that's arithmetic. It's very simple. It doesn't work for the working family.”
His mother, two of his siblings, Yusef and Santita, and wife Marilyn, the new CEO of the Muhammad Ali Center, were also in attendance.
The 56-year-old was a national surrogate for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign in 2016.
There are at least 13 other candidates running for the seat, including Alderwoman Pat Dowell, community activist Jahmal Cole and Karin Norington-Reaves, the CEO of the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership, who has been endorsed by Bobby Rush.
The primary for the 1st Congressional District seat is scheduled for June 28.
