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The district includes the part of the Southland southeast suburbs of Chicago and part of the Chicago South Side. He is the son of activist and former presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. His wife, Sandi Jackson, serves on the Chicago City Council. He served as a national co-chairman of the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign. Prior to elective politics Jackson was active in international civil rights activism. He participated in his father's presidential campaigns and then in the office of his Rainbow Coalition. During his time in public office he has co-authored three books, two of them with his father. Jackson has a consistent liberal record on both social and fiscal issues. His most important political issue has been the pursuit of the proposed Chicago south suburban airport to serve as a third major airport for the Chicago metropolitan area. He has been a very active Democratic spokesperson for other Democratic candidates and a popular interviewee and broadcast media guest. In his majority black district, he has generated broad-based support, which has repeatedly earned him re-election by wide 5-to-1 and 10-to-1 margins. Prior to the selection of Roland Burris, Jackson had been mentioned as a possible appointee by Governor Rod Blagojevich for an interim United States Senator to replace Obama until the November 2010 election. Numerous press publications noted his supposed involvement in the Rod Blagojevich corruption investigation. |