IL-01: Jonathan Jackson (D)
Jonathan Luther Jackson is the third of five children born to the civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. and social justice advocate Jacqueline Lavina Jackson.
He was born in Chicago on Jan. 7, 1966 during the civil rights era— a time when civil rights leaders across this country were fighting for Americans who had been denied access to the American dream and to freedoms enjoyed by everyone else.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was his godfather.
A married father of three children, he resides in the same area of the city where he grew up. He graduated from Whitney Young High School and attended North Carolina Agricultural & Technical University, where he majored in business, later earning a master’s degree in business administration from the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University.
His career in business began as an investment analyst, working in a major investment firm. Later, he worked as an analyst in a successful bank and on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade. He worked in real estate development and then launched several businesses in Telecom, breweries, and construction industries.
Jackson says, “I will always heed the advice of my constituents to better understand their daily struggles and work with them to improve their lives. Working together we all win.”
The biographical information above was sourced from the candidate’s campaign website.
