Fourteen years after he left Congress and a decade after he was released from federal prison after serving 19 months for wire and mail fraud related to campaign finance issues, Jesse Jackson Jr. is poised to make a dramatic return to his former House seat Tuesday at age 61.
With Rep. Robin Kelly seeking the Democrat nomination for senator, her predecessor Jackson is considered the front-runner in the all-important primary for Chicago's 2nd District seat he held from 1995-2012.
The primary Tuesday comes barely two weeks after Jackson's namesake father was buried in a funeral televised nationally from Chicago.
Following eulogies delivered by Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, the younger Jackson drew swaths of publicity for his sharp rebuke to the three living former Democrat presidents for drifting from honoring his father to political commentary and declaring "they do not know Jesse Jackson."
Jackson faces head-on his past conviction and incarceration, saying "I own my own behavior" and that his divorce, foreclosure on his home, and living on Social Security disability payments have taught him the error of his past ways.
In the twilight days of the campaign, Jackson stumps on issues such as building a third airport in Chicago.
A sign of his familiarity is his campaign posters with the legend simply "Jr."
Jackson's opponents are Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller and state Sen. Robert Peters.
Miller has benefited from a major independent expenditure from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and Peters has the backing of his party's progressive wing — "[Sens.] Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the Working Families Party, a whole bunch of progressive labor unions, and progressive groups that are working side by side with us," Peters told reporters.
Should Jackson win, he will serve in the House with younger brother, Jonathan Jackson, who represents the neighboring 1st District — the first time since Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., served with his brother, the late Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., from 2002 until Lincoln's retirement in 2010.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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