Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. announced Tuesday, July 15, that he is forming an exploratory committee for a potential campaign for the 2nd Congressional District seat.
He joins a half dozen other candidates who will be in the Democratic primary in March 2026. The congressional seat is open because Rep. Robin Kelly, who succeeded Jackson, is campaigning for Illinois’ open U.S. Senate seat.
Friends of Jesse Jackson Jr. for Congress 2026 Exploratory Committee will begin raising the resources and building the infrastructure required for a professional campaign. Jackson said retired U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush and a growing number of political and community leaders are working on his behalf.
His brother Jonathan Jackson represents Illinois’ 1st Congressional District. They are sons of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson.
Over the last several weeks, Jackson has visited villages and rural areas across the 2nd Congressional District that extends from Chicago’s south side to areas in Kankakee, Iroquois, Ford, Vermillion, Livingston and Champaign counties. He said he heard a chorus of public officials and community voices urging him to enter the race.
Jackson was the 2nd Congressional District representative from 1995 to 2012. In October 2012, Jackson was investigated for financial improprieties including misuse of campaign funds. He resigned from Congress citing mental and physical health problems.
Jackson later admitted to violating federal campaign law by using campaign funds to make personal purchases and pleaded guilty on Feb. 20, 2013, to one count of wire and mail fraud. He was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.
A group of south suburban mayors, including Homewood Mayor Rich Hofeld, appealed to President Joe Biden in the fall of 2024 to pardon Jackson, but Biden did not take action on the request before his term expired.
Jackson was first elected as 2nd Congressional District representative in a December 1995 special election. Hofeld said Jackson was always responsive to the needs of Homewood and other south suburban communities.
Jackson says as congressman he brought more than $968 million dollars in grants to the district and was known as a results-driven member of Congress.
He helped establish a national park in Pullman, provided freshwater to Ford Heights, was an advocate of the South Suburban Airport, built a dozen new metro stations from Hyde Park to 93rd Street and provided signage to identify towns and villages along the Bishop Ford Freeway and I-57.
