Jonathan Jackson

Jonathan Jackson grew up in Chicago's Jackson Park Highlands, in a family that included civil rights leaders the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Jacqueline Jackson.¹ He raised three children, all adults when he first ran for Congress in 2022.¹ That campaign was his first attempt at public office.¹ He also accompanied his father on international missions before becoming a candidate himself.¹

He graduated from Whitney Young High School in Chicago.¹ Jackson graduated from North Carolina A&T State University and earned an MBA at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business.² His early career included work as an investment analyst at the Chicago Board of Trade.¹ His business career has included launching telecommunications, distribution and construction companies.² He taught finance and entrepreneurship at City Colleges of Chicago and served as a business professor at Chicago State University.²

Before Congress, he served as a national spokesperson for the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.² His advocacy has included wrongful conviction cases and opposition to Chicago school closures.³ He entered the House in 2023 and serves on the Agriculture and Foreign Affairs committees.²

His legislative positions include protecting SNAP food assistance, supporting urban agriculture and strengthening civil rights accountability at the Department of Agriculture.³ He also supports studying reparations for slavery, ending the federal death penalty and protecting the federal Department of Education.³ He faces Republican Christian Maxwell in the 2026 election.⁴