Biography:

Jesse Jackson Jr. was born in Greenville, S.C., and resides on Chicago's South Side.

In 1987, he graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C., with a bachelor of science degree in business management. Three years later, he graduated with a master of arts degree from the Chicago Theological Seminary. In 1993, he received a law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law.

Jackson was the president of the Keep Hope Alive PAC in 1989 and 1990. He served as the vice president of Operation PUSH from 1991 to 1995 and as national field director for the National Rainbow Coalition from 1993 to 1995.

He instituted a computer system that allowed the group to service nearly 500,000 constituents and started JaxFax, a weekly progressive Rainbow newsletter.

He helped organize a southern voting rights education campaign on the threats to majority/minority voting districts _ as well as thousands of new voters. He was elected to the House in a special election in 1995.

In 1996, he coauthored a book about the death penalty with his father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, entitled "Legal Lynching." He has also co-authored "A More Perfect Union: Advancing New American Rights" (2001); "Legal Lynching II" (2001); and "It's About the Money" (1999).

He was re-elected to his first full term in 1996.

He and his wife, Sandi, have two children, a daughter, Jessica Donatella and a son, Jesse Jackson III.

Past Campaigns:

Jesse Jackson Jr. was elected to the U.S. House, defeating Republican Thomas Somer, a Chicago Heights lawyer, with 75 percent of the vote, in a special general election in 1995.

Somer dropped out of the 1996 race, leaving Jackson without a Republican opponent. Jackson won with 94 percent of the vote.

In 1998 and 2000, Jackson defeated Republican Robert Gordon with 89 percent and 90 percent of the vote, respectively.

In the March 2002 primary, Jackson won with 85.3 percent of the vote, defeating Yvonne L. Christian-Williams (10 percent) and Anthony W. Williams (4.7 percent).

Jackson was re-elected in 2002 with 82 percent of the vote against Doug Nelson, a Republican ward committeeman.

In 2004, Jackson easily won the Democratic primary, with about 88 percent of the vote, although he attracted three opponents, including former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds.

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