During the 1980s, Jackson achieved wide fame as a politician and a spokesman for civil rights issues. In June, Jackson delivered a speech to 4,000 black Baptist ministers in
Memphis bemoaning the fact that only one percent of American public officials were African-American despite blacks making up 12 percent of the population; the crowd responded with chants for him to "Run". Jackson's address to the
National Congress of American Indians and touring of southern Texas to test his appeal among Hispanics fueled speculation that he would run for president. On November 3, 1983, Jackson announced his campaign for president of the United States in the 1984 election, becoming the second African American (after
Shirley Chisholm) to mount a nationwide campaign for president as a
Democrat. Jackson's candidacy divided support among black politicians, and even prominent African Americans such as
Coretta Scott King, who supported his right to run, refrained from endorsing him due to their belief he would not win the nomination. Among black office-holders, Jackson received the support of former
Mayor of Atlanta Maynard Jackson, and
Mayor of Newark Kenneth A. Gibson. Jackson entered the race after most prominent Democrats including Senator
Gary Hart, and former Vice President
Walter Mondale. In December, he was endorsed by
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. chairman
T. J. Jemison, and lost the endorsement of the
Alabama Democratic Conference, the largest black political organization in
Alabama, to Mondale. In January, Jackson participated in the first Democratic debate in
Hanover, New Hampshire. Although Jackson campaign issues coordinator Frank Watkins said the campaign did not "have to spend but a moment's time on how to utilize TV, because he understands that better than any of the other candidates and most of their media advisers", his performance was criticized for being "either wrong or uninformed". Neither Jackson or Senator
Fritz Hollings campaigned prolifically in
Iowa ahead of the
Iowa caucuses, which Mondale won. Jackson took part in the February 24
League of Women Voters-sponsored debate, and
The New York Times wrote that Jackson "provided the most dramatic exchange of the 90-minute program when
Barbara Walters, the
ABC News interviewer who was the moderator, asked him if he had made
anti-Semitic statements, including referring to Jews as 'Hymies.'" Hart defended Jackson as having "no derogatory feelings in his soul"; Hart won the New Hampshire primary. At the end of February, Jackson announced his supporters would file a lawsuit against state election rules that he deemed racially motivated, specifically targeting "dual registration" and "second primaries". Jackson, Mondale, and Hart took part in the March 28 debate, where Jackson interjected as Mondale and Hart argued over Central American policy. Jackson's reply, according to
Howell Raines, "won him the only bursts of applause from an audience of 200 people at the
Low Memorial Library who witnessed what was almost certainly the most tense of the debates." Jackson won the April 15 primary in his home state of South Carolina with 34.4 percent of the vote, receiving twice as many delegates as Mondale and Hart. At the start of May, Jackson won the District of Columbia and Louisiana primaries. More Virginia caucus-goers supported Jackson than any other candidate, but Mondale won more Virginia delegates. Jackson received the most black support of any candidate in the Georgia, Alabama, and Florida primaries, where massive registration drives targeted at black voters led to a 69 percent increase in voter turnout from 1980 in Georgia and Alabama. A March 1984 Washington Post-ABC News poll found Jackson in third place with 20 percent support, behind Mondale and Hart with 39 and 32 percent. "By achieving unexpected success in some early primaries and caucuses, Mr. Jackson has apparently unified and raised the expectations of black voters," Raines wrote before noting that his support was based "almost entirely on a minority vote" and pondering whether Jackson had the ability to reach white voters and whether whites were willing to vote for black candidates.
The Washington Post credited Jackson with drawing "thousands of black Americans into the political process for the first time", shaking the Democratic Party's status quo, and "inspiring black pride generally by his strong showing in many primaries and his performances in candidate debates." Chairman of the D.C. Democratic State Committee Theodis Gay said that Jackson's campaign "puts blacks in particular back in touch with an identity—a feeling of self-worth and of hope." Overall, Jackson received three-quarters of the black vote in the Democratic primary. A
New York Times/CBS News Poll found that black Democrats preferred Mondale to Jackson as the Democratic nominee by a margin of 5 to 3. In May, Jackson complained that he had won 21% of the popular vote but was awarded only 9% of the delegates. He said afterward that he had been handicapped by party rules. While Mondale (in the words of his aides) was determined to establish a precedent by picking a woman or a visible minority as his vice-presidential candidate, Jackson criticized the screening process as a "
p.r. parade of personalities". He mocked Mondale, saying that
Hubert Humphrey was the "last significant politician out of the St. Paul–Minneapolis" area. and Mondale's victories left him with enough delegates to be considered the presumptive nominee. Mondale signaled his desire to telephone both Hart and Jackson for party unity. In an address to supporters at the Operation PUSH headquarters, Jackson said that fairness had not been achieved and that he was entitled to help choose both Mondale's running mate and his cabinet in the event he defeated Reagan in November. On July 4, Jackson and Mondale met at the Radisson Muehlebach Hotel for more than two hours. Mondale called the meeting "successful", while Jackson said it was "not complete because there are unresolved matters", though he said that he expected to support Mondale if he was the nominee. Mondale ruled out Jackson as a running mate, citing "sufficient differences between Reverend Jackson and myself". Jackson addressed the
1984 Democratic National Convention in
San Francisco on July 17, 1984, where he delivered his famous "Rainbow Coalition" speech. It was the first speech at a national convention to mention gays and lesbians. Jackson said, America is not like a blanket—one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt: many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread. The white, the Hispanic, the black, the Arab, the Jew, the woman, the native American, the small farmer, the businessperson, the environmentalist, the peace activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay, and the disabled make up the American quilt. It also featured an apology alluding to comments he made which were considered derogatory to Jews and "answered the longstanding question of his loyalty to the party in the general election". He added: "Even in our fractured state, all of us count and all of us fit somewhere. We have proven that we can survive without each other. But we have not proven that we can win and progress without each other. We must come together." During the convention, Jackson's proposals to ban runoff primaries, decrease defense spending, and pledge the U.S. would not use nuclear weapons first were voted down from the party platform. In spite of this, Jackson reiterated his support for the Democrats, saying that while they could afford to lose the vote, they could not afford to "avoid raising the right questions. Our self-respect and our moral integrity were at stake. Our heads are perhaps bloody, but unbowed. Our back is straight and our vision is clear." On August 29, Jackson met with Mondale again and afterward declared that he had "embraced the mission and support the Mondale-
Ferraro candidacy with great fervor" but also that he would "always reserve the right to challenge" Mondale. By September, Jackson had introduced Mondale to the National Baptist Convention and the
Congressional Black Caucus, and had gone from a political liability to "mostly a plus for the Democratic ticket, with few minuses". Reagan defeated Mondale in a landslide in the general election, and Thomas Cavanagh of the Joint Center for Political Studies noted that all black challengers lost their elections despite expectations that Jackson's presidential candidacy would increase turnout in their favor.
Activity between presidential campaigns In January 1985, concurrent with the
second inauguration of Ronald Reagan, Jackson led several hundred supporters in a procession through downtown Washington to the grounds of the
Washington Monument. He stressed that they needed to "keep alive the hopes of those who have fallen through the safety net" and challenge America "to protect the poor". In April, Jackson led a rally to protest the sale of an elderly farmer's form to Kearney Trust Co. outside the Clinton County Courthouse, where he called the gathering of farmers, union labor members, ministers, and urban blacks from
Kansas City "a rainbow coalition for economic justice". In June,
Mayor of the District of Columbia Marion Barry introduced Jackson at the Winston Elementary School, where Jackson said that the "number one threat to the development of this generation is drugs". In June 1986, Jackson delivered a commencement speech at
Medgar Evers College in which he bemoaned that many young people were "experiencing an ethical collapse, a spiritual withdrawal, and escaping this reality through drugs, alcohol, sex without love, making unwanted babies and turning on each other with violence". Later that month, after basketball player
Len Bias died from cardiac arrest stemming from "cocaine intoxication", Jackson and Representative
Charles Rangel called for Reagan to announce a nationwide war on drugs and seek increased funding of federal anti-drug education programs in public schools. During the
1987 Chicago mayoral election, Jackson led an effort to get Chairman
Paul G. Kirk to meet with the
Cook County party leaders in Chicago to prevent the campaign's deterioration and avoid "dissension and splintering of the Democratic vote". Jackson and his supporters charged that Chicago Democrats would do anything to prevent
Harold Washington from being reelected, including campaigning for his Republican challenger.
1988 presidential campaign By early 1986, there was speculation that Jackson would run for president again in 1988. In March 1987, he formed an exploratory committee, making him the second potential candidate to do so, after Gary Hart. By April 1987, after previously having spent "all of half a day" in Iowa, Jackson had spent six days there throughout the year and moved his office to the rural part of the state instead of
Des Moines. He stressed that farmers and businessmen were akin to unemployed blacks in being negatively affected by the Reagan administration's economic policies. In July, Jackson met with former
Governor of Alabama George Wallace for half an hour, calling the former segregationist "one of the most forward of any governor across the South in terms of the sharing of appointments with blacks and whites and women, and the tone of the administration had changed". The meeting was seen as Jackson testing support for a presidential bid. In September, Jackson attended a presidential candidates forum; he embraced the Congressional Black Caucus's positions on education, employment, and defense, and was greeted with chants of "Run Jesse Run" and "Win Jesse Win". (center) and
Decatur "Bucky" Trotter (left) during a
Maryland Legislative Black Caucus meeting in
Annapolis, Maryland (1988) On October 11, 1987, Jackson announced his candidacy in the 1988 presidential election. At the time of his announcement, polling showed that he led in nine of the 12 Southern states that would hold primaries or caucuses in March and led the Democratic field at 27 percent. In November, Jackson announced that
Speaker of the California State Assembly Willie Brown would serve as his campaign chairman while political strategist Gerald Austin became his campaign manager. Later that month, Jackson announced he would stop his tour of the Persian Gulf to attend the funeral of his friend,
Mayor of Chicago Harold Washington, before changing his mind. Jackson's campaign platform included a call for a single-payer system of
universal health care; higher taxes on the wealthy and defense spending cuts intended to reduce federal budget deficits and increase education, housing, welfare, and childcare spending; ratifying the
Equal Rights Amendment; an executive order to ban discrimination against gays and lesbians in federal agencies, the army, and to recognize gay couples for spousal benefits; reducing the supply and flow of drugs into communities; the creation of a domestic version of the
World Bank called the "American Investment Bank" that would have the authority to sell government bonds to rebuild American infrastructure; suspending the development of new nuclear weapons in order to eventually ban them altogether; and "a very different relationship with the Soviet Union" involving a constructive partnership. In 1987,
The New York Times called Jackson "a classic liberal in the tradition of the
New Deal and the
Great Society". where he was noted as the "one candidate who stayed away from most of the bitter exchanges" as he assailed the Reagan administration. In the February 8 Iowa caucus, Jackson came in fourth place behind
Richard Gephardt,
Paul Simon, and
Michael Dukakis, though he had quadrupled his support there from his 1984 bid. After losing in New Hampshire to Dukakis by a wide margin, Jackson was seen as having done "well enough to argue that he has expanded his appeal to white voters." In the March 8
Super Tuesday contests, Jackson won Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Party leaders saw the results as indicating the beginning of a long three-way race between Dukakis, Jackson, and
Al Gore. As the month progressed, Jackson won Alaska, South Carolina, and Puerto Rico. Jackson scored a surprising victory in the March 26 Michigan primary, defeating Dukakis in a landslide. This made him the front-runner in the race and spurred party officials to actively contemplate that he could be the party's nominee after all. Former Democratic Party chairman
Robert S. Strauss said that his Michigan win showed that Jackson "has a kind of power we hadn't expected" and was "a real vulnerability" for Dukakis's campaign. Jackson participated in the March 28 debate at
Fordham University, where he was the only candidate greeted by applause, and stressed that government intervention could end homelessness.
Mayor of New York City Ed Koch supported Gore and attacked Jackson, saying that Jews "would have to be crazy" to support his campaign and that Jackson lied about his role in the aftermath of King's assassination. Dukakis defeated Jackson in the New York primary, and a distant third-place finish led Gore to drop out of the race. Koch later apologized in a letter, expressing regret "if racial or religious friction resulted" from his comments about Jackson. Jackson narrowly lost the Colorado primary to Dukakis, and was defeated handily by him in the
Wisconsin primary the next day. Jackson's showing among Wisconsin's white voters was significantly better than in 1984 but also noticeably lower than pre-primary polling had predicted. The back-to-back victories established Dukakis as the front-runner. Throughout May, Dukakis won more contests, and Jackson's own staff admitted he no longer could win the nomination. By the end of the Democratic primaries, Jackson had received 6.9 million votes and won 11 contests: seven primaries (Alabama, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, and Virginia) and four caucuses (Delaware, Michigan, South Carolina, and Vermont). Jackson felt he deserved Dukakis's consideration as a running mate. Dukakis agreed, but added that Jackson was of no "special or greater consideration" simply because he finished second in the primaries. Polling in April found a Dukakis–Jackson ticket would defeat Vice President
George H. W. Bush, but that either alone would lose to Bush. Dukakis picked Senator
Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate, and Jackson responded that Dukakis had the right to use an approach "making a strategic move to solidify his organization" and that his strategy was to "keep hope alive, to keep focus in our campaign, to keep our delegates and supporters, disciplined detail and full of hope, to put forth the very best expression we can of support on Wednesday, July 20, at nomination time." The dispute between Jackson and Dukakis led Jackson to suggest former President
Jimmy Carter would have to mediate their conflict, and they did not reach an agreement until shortly before the
1988 Democratic National Convention began. After Dukakis was nominated, Jackson appeared with Bentsen and Dukakis at a loyalty breakfast where Dukakis told Jackson's supporters that he needed them. By September, former members of Jackson's campaign became involved in a dispute with the Dukakis campaign and the Michigan Democratic Party to "obtain additional jobs, power and money". According to a November 1987
New York Times article, "Most political analysts give him little chance of being nominated—partly because he is black, partly because of his unretrenched liberalism." But Jackson's past successes made him a more credible candidate, and he was both better financed and better organized than in 1984. Jackson once again exceeded expectations as he more than doubled his previous results, prompting
R. W. Apple of
The New York Times to call 1988 "the Year of Jackson". After the leak of the draft decision to overturn
Roe v. Wade, Jackson compared the draft to
Dred Scott v. Sandford, as both were "preceded by a disingenuous campaign to urge citizens to respect the decisions of the court as grounded in law, not politics". He predicted overturning
Roe v. Wade would "spark fierce political battles over basic rights in the states, the Congress, the courts and on the streets". In June 2022, the Supreme Court overruled
Roe in
Dobbs v. Jackson.
Later political activities 1990s , Vice President
Al Gore and son
Yusef Jackson in 1993 After
District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry was arrested, Jackson was under pressure to enter the mayoral race to replace Barry. While Jackson said he was not running for the position, he also said, "that public servants should never say never, and they should never say forever." Jackson talked about running with his 1988 presidential campaign chairman, Joel Ferguson, and Ferguson formally announced Jackson's decision not to enter the race the next day. Jackson instead ran for office as "
shadow senator" for the District of Columbia when the position was created in 1991, In November 1991,
Democratic National Committee chair
Ron Brown reported that Jackson had told him that he would not enter the
1992 Democratic Party presidential primaries. A short time later, Jackson formally declared he would not mount a third presidential bid and called for the creation of a "new democratic majority". His decision not to run caused concerns for the future of the Rainbow Coalition, which
The New York Times wrote "has only carried political clout in the years when Mr. Jackson has run for President."
Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton insulted Jackson on an open television microphone and called Jackson to apologize. Jackson said focusing on the comments was unhelpful and noted that Clinton was the only one of the then-five Democratic presidential candidates who had not agreed to join Jackson on campaign trips highlighting housing, health, and education issues. On April 26, 1992, Jackson and Clinton had a 40-minute meeting in Clinton's hotel suite and emerged to announce that they were both committed to defeating Bush in the general election. Asked if he was ready to endorse Clinton, Jackson said: "Well, if he wins the nomination of our party, he would be well on his way. We need a new President and we need a new direction. We cannot afford any more of what George Bush represents." After Clinton became the likely nominee, Jackson appealed to the Democratic Party's platform committee to neither "go with the flow on capital punishment" nor "walk soft on right-to-work laws". Although Jackson promised to endorse the party's nominee, his comments were seen as directed toward Clinton.
David S. Broder noted Jackson's lessened influence at the
1992 Democratic National Convention and contrasted him with Chairman Brown: "At almost the same moment that Jackson learned he could no longer hold the Democratic Party and its nominee hostage to his demands, Brown was showing he could carry the party and its convention in his hands." In January 1992, Jackson began hosting a
CNN talk show,
Both Sides with Jesse Jackson. The program featured guests representing opposite sides of a single issue and was among the few programs on CNN hosted by a liberal. In February 2026, it was revealed that Jackson and Clinton had been friends since they first met in
Little Rock, Arkansas during the 20th anniversary celebration of the
integration of
Little Rock Central High School in 1977. Jackson was initially critical of Bill Clinton's moderate "
Third Way" policies.
Peter Beinart alleged that Clinton was "petrified about a primary challenge from Jackson in the
1996 U.S. presidential election. On August 29, 1993, Jackson joined gatherers at the
Lincoln Memorial to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, walking arm-in-arm with United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Henry Cisneros and
United States Attorney General Janet Reno. In September 1996, Jackson visited rapper
Tupac Shakur in the hospital after he was wounded in a drive-by shooting. Jackson said the real issue was "the violent culture we live in—the survival of the fittest that too often calls for revenge".
SFGATE criticized his remark as "off the mark" in characterizing Shakur as a victim of a violent society. In 1997, Jackson backed
Al Sharpton in
his bid for mayor of New York City, denouncing
Alan Hevesi for refusing to support Sharpton in the event that he won the primary, calling it "the worst conceivable time for polarizing statements and positions by responsible leaders". Sharpton lost the Democratic primary to
Ruth Messinger, who lost the general election to incumbent
Rudy Giuliani. In March 2000, Jackson criticized Giuliani's handling of the Patrick Dorismond shooting, saying that there was "something that is not well about his response to unarmed people being shot by police." Mayoral spokesman Curt Ritter responded: "Jesse Jackson,
Dov Hikind and Alan Hevesi have joined the political pile-on team being captained by Al Sharpton in the name of Hillary Clinton." (third from right) at anti-
impeachment rally at the
US Capitol in support of President
Bill Clinton (fourth from left), December 17, 1998In 1998, Clinton's affair with White House intern
Monica Lewinsky became public, and his lying under oath about the affair led to an
impeachment inquiry by the House. In an interview with
The Washington Post, Jackson explained his opposition to Clinton's removal from office: "The punishment of impeachment does not correspond to the nature of Mr. Clinton's lack of candor. What he did does not fit the definition of high crimes; it was a little crime." On December 17, Jackson led a prayer vigil outside the
U.S. Capitol for the purpose of increasing the visibility of those opposed to Clinton's impeachment. The House impeached Clinton the next day. On November 18, 1999, seven
Decatur, Illinois high school students were expelled for two years after participating in a brawl at a football game. The incident was caught on home video and became a national media event when CNN ran pictures of the fight. After the students were expelled, Jackson argued that the expulsions were unfair and racially biased, and called on the school board to reverse its decision. In August, Jackson criticized Republican
Governor of Texas and presidential candidate
George W. Bush as showing no leadership after the
murder of James Byrd Jr. by not pushing any hate-crime bills. On March 1, 2000, Jackson endorsed Vice President
Al Gore, saying that he brought "to the table a body of invaluable accomplishments as a former congressman, senator and vice president." Gore won the nomination, and Jackson addressed the
2000 Democratic National Convention. Gore faced Bush in the general election, where the
close race in Florida led to the
Florida election recount. On November 10, Jackson attended a rally in
West Palm Beach and called for the Justice Department to investigate the "widespread disgrace across this state", noting
Palm Beach County had confusing and illegal ballots that failed to adhere to state laws mandating that voters make their choice to the right of the candidate's name. On December 5, Jackson joined Florida Black Caucus members in filing a civil rights suit charging that minority voters in
Duval County were discarded at higher rates than those of whites. Jackson noted 27,000 votes from Duval County were not counted on election night and most of them came from black inner-city neighborhoods. Gore conceded the election weeks later. On January 20, 2001, Bill Clinton's final day in office, Clinton pardoned Congressman
Mel Reynolds, John Bustamante, and Dorothy Rivers; Jackson had requested pardons for them. Jackson had also requested a pardon for his half-brother Noah Robinson who had been convicted of murdering Leroy Barber and sentenced to life imprisonment, but Clinton did not pardon Robinson on the grounds that Robinson had already submitted three pardon appeals, all of which the Justice Department had denied. Jackson said he was reluctant, but that he was carefully considering the visit, saying, "If we can do something to encourage them to dismantle those terrorist bases, to choose to hand over the suspects and release the Christians rather than engage in a long bloody war, we'll encourage them to do so." s environmental activist
Maude Barlow, 2005In a 2002 interview, Jackson said there was "a new America" and the world was abandoning the
Jeffersonian democracy that coexisted with slavery in favor of "King democracy", named for his former mentor who "fundamentally changed democracy." In November, African Americans Against Exploitation Inc., which included
Jesse Lee Peterson as a plaintiff, filed suit against Jackson alleging that he "intentionally misrepresented himself as an official of the African American race." Jackson responded that it was "a nuisance lawsuit with no basis in law or fact." That year, Jackson was a target of a
white supremacist terror plot. On September 1, 2003, Jackson was among those arrested for blocking traffic at
Yale University as they showed their solidarity with striking clerical, dining hall and maintenance workers. He was the first person handcuffed. On June 23, 2007, Jackson was arrested in connection with a protest at a gun store in Riverdale, a low-income suburb of Chicago. He and others were protesting due to allegations that the gun store had been selling firearms to local gang members and was contributing to the decay of the community. According to police reports, Jackson refused to stop blocking the front entrance of the store and let customers pass. He was charged with one count of criminal trespassing. Jackson addressed the
2004 Democratic National Convention. In the general election, Jackson traveled with Kerry, and stumped for him in battleground states. Kerry lost to Bush. In 2005, the
Federal Election Commission ruled that Jackson and the
Democratic National Committee had violated electoral law in 2000 and fined them $200,000 (). In March 2006 an African-American woman accused three white members of the
Duke University men's lacrosse team of raping her. During
the ensuing controversy, Jackson stated that his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition would pay for the rest of her college tuition regardless of the outcome of the case. The case against the three men was later thrown out, and the players were declared innocent by the North Carolina Attorney General. Davis lost the Democratic primary to
Ron Sparks.
Early 2010s In August 2010, Jackson participated in the "Jobs, Justice and Peace" march in Detroit, which he said was held to show Obama and other leaders that Detroit needed a focused urban policy. Shannon Jones of
World Socialist Web Site criticized the march as "little more than a campaign rally for the Democratic Party, which has overseen wholesale job and wage cuts in Detroit and nationally while escalating military violence around the world" and in actuality "a demonstration in support of the American ruling class drive, spearheaded by the Obama administration, to put in place a permanent lowering of wages and living conditions in the US." In 2011,
Wayne Barrett wrote that Obama's embrace of Sharpton had "as much to do with the president's antipathy for three other black leaders—Jesse Jackson, Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley—as it does with any genuine White House enthusiasm for the controversial New York preacher." In 2012, Jackson commended Obama's 2012 decision to support
gay marriage and compared the fight for
marriage equality to the fight against slavery and the anti-miscegenation laws that once prevented
interracial marriage. and called for repealing
stand-your-ground laws to discourage "vigilante" behavior. Zimmerman was arrested, and later acquitted of second-degree murder. Jackson responded to the acquittal by refusing to accept it, comparing it to the acquittals in the cases of
Emmett Till and
Medgar Evers. He called for protesters to do nothing that "would diminish the moral authority of Trayvon Martin as a martyr in this case" and for the Justice Department to file civil rights charges against Zimmerman. The Department of Justice concluded that there was not sufficient evidence of Zimmerman violating Martin's civil rights. In July 2013, Jackson met with
Marissa Alexander and called for
Angela Corey to use her influence to get Alexander's 20-year sentence reduced. He contrasted Alexander's sentence with Zimmerman's acquittal: "A woman was not guilty of shooting or killing anyone is in jail for 20 years. A man who did kill someone is walking free. The gap is too great." In January 2015, Alexander was released from a jail in
Jacksonville, Florida under a plea deal changing her sentence to three years which she had already served. and
George W. Bush in April 2014 The
shooting of Michael Brown ignited unrest in
Ferguson, Missouri. Jackson wrote an op-ed addressing Ferguson in which he declared that "there has been no significant urban, suburban, small town or rural policy to rebuild America" since
Lyndon B. Johnson and that urban and rural communities "have significantly deteriorated during the past 46 years of neglect." In an MSNBC interview, Jackson likened the shooting to a state execution and requested that the White House create a policy to address ills in black urban communities. He marched to the site of Brown's shooting with other protesters and led them in prayer, warning them that they could "reshape an iron while it's hot, but don't destroy yourself in the process." After
Robert McCulloch chose to not indict Brown's shooter, Darren Wilson, Jackson requested the involvement of a federal grand jury in the case. In January 2015, Jackson participated in a panel discussion at
Stanford University, calling for
East Palo Alto residents to combat gentrification even if it meant marching to a company's headquarters. He met with Silicon Valley leaders. In June, after
Dylann Roof killed nine people at the
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown
Charleston, South Carolina, Jackson and Sharpton joined Governor
Nikki Haley, U.S. Senator
Tim Scott, and
Mayor of Charleston Joseph P. Riley Jr. in attending funerals of the victims. In an op-ed, Jackson said the shooting was "the result of institutionalized racism, centuries of dehumanization and the current denial of economic and political equality of opportunity", and urged Obama, Congress, governors, and state legislatures "to all put the same effort, resources and energy into ending the crime of racism, economic injustice and political denial throughout the nation".
Late 2010s convention in Chicago in September 2016 Jackson declined to endorse either
Hillary Clinton or
Bernie Sanders in the
2016 Democratic presidential primary, citing his longtime associations with both. After Clinton secured the nomination, Jackson endorsed her. In July, Republican nominee
Donald Trump released a video condemning the police killings of
Alton Sterling and
Philando Castile. Jackson admitted the video contained "significant remarks" but faulted Trump for his past involvement in the
birther movement and past rhetoric that had "helped to seed these clouds". Days before the election, Jackson cited several reasons for voters to support Clinton over Trump, including the possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act and the appointment of U.S. Supreme Court justices and urged them to "join the right side of history". Trump defeated Clinton in the general election, and Jackson shortly thereafter wrote an op-ed for
The Guardian saying that Trump "must prove he is worthy of the office by immediately going to work uniting the country he has done so much to divide." Jackson attended the
Women's March on Washington, where he said that both a half-century of civil rights and the right to vote had been threatened. In April, he participated in the Miami, Florida, Hispanicize conference, where he called the Trump administration's efforts to set up deportation camps "Germanesque" and denounced the more than 30 Hispanic-owned firms who put in a bid to construct the
border wall. When he visited St. John Baptist Church in
Orlando, Jackson stated his support for the
Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity investigating the suppression of minority voters, noting that between 1.3 and 1.7 million voters were ineligible to vote in Florida due to felony convictions. In September, he gave a speech at the Ministers March for Justice, saying, "Trump says you must be able to speak the language of English, [be] qualified and have a job skill. Jesus would not qualify to come in Trump's country. Trump would not qualify to get into Jesus' kingdom." After
Colin Kaepernick was not signed by the NFL for kneeling during the national anthem, and Trump denounced players who joined Kaepernick in kneeling in protest, Jackson urged a boycott of the NFL as long "as their boycott of Colin Kaepernick continues" and said that Trump should instead focus on helping victims of
Hurricane Maria. In January 2018, Jackson delivered a sermon at a church in
Fort Washington, Maryland, in which he accused Trump of being misleading and called him a "man of inherited wealth and privilege who seems to have no understanding of our situation". Ahead of the 50th anniversary of King's assassination, Jackson wrote an op-ed for
The New York Times reflecting on King's accomplishments and his continued relevance in current struggles. He asserted that those "who value justice and equality must have the will and courage to follow him." In September, Jackson attended the Angela Project Conference with Congressman
John Yarmuth and
Mayor of Louisville Greg Fischer, noting injustices in America such as wealth inequality and the disproportionate number of imprisoned African-Americans. Jackson also said that both the Devil and Trump were temporary and would be outlasted by "the Lord". In February 2019, after
Jussie Smollett was reported to have been assaulted in a hate crime, Jackson called the attack an attempt at a "barbaric lynching". Although Trump condemned the assault, Jackson charged him with emboldening bigots through his rhetoric and actions, warning of the revival of demeaning and bullying. Smollett was later charged with falsifying the attack, and Jackson was among those who wrote to the judge handling the case, requesting leniency for Smollett as he had already been "excoriated and vilified in the court of public opinion" and had his professional reputation "severely damaged". After Trump attacked Congresswoman
Ilhan Omar with multiple false claims, Jackson warned that Trump was "making people afraid of her, and it's going to produce violence", noting King's assassination came after he was "defamed" and "vilified by the government." Jackson and his son Jesse Jr. sent Trump a letter requesting that he pardon former
Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich, the father-son pair declaring that they stood with the Blagojevich family "as they seek a full pardon for a father and husband that has served most of a sentence that was far longer than the offense deserved". During the
2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, Jackson delivered food to activists occupying the
Venezuelan embassy in Washington, D.C. In June, Jackson went to Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center to encourage inmates to vote as part of a voter registration drive in South Carolina with particular focus on students, seniors, and working-class residents. Months later, he visited
Paine College to further encourage voting, saying America was "being torn asunder by inviting Russia and China and Iran and others into the election process. The gap isn't between black and white so much as it's between the have and the have-nots." In November, Jackson spoke at the funeral of former Representative
John Conyers.
2020s (right) at a Democratic fundraising event in
South Carolina in 2022 In June 2019, as Biden prepared to deliver remarks for Rainbow PUSH in his capacity as a candidate in the
2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Jackson said he did not understand Biden's previous support for segregated school busing but believed "he's changed" and expressed his opposition to states' rights. In March 2020, Jackson endorsed Bernie Sanders in the primary. He said that Sanders made several commitments to him, and it was reported that he requested Sanders pick an African-American woman as his running mate. Sanders dropped out of the race a month later, and Biden became the Democratic presidential nominee. As the 2020 election neared, Jackson said that Trump had left "African Americans in the deepest hole with the shortest rope" and predicted "African Americans—and particularly African-American women—will vote overwhelmingly for Joe Biden". Biden defeated Trump in the general election, fulfilling Jackson's prediction by winning an overwhelming majority of the black vote. Ahead of Biden's inauguration, Jackson wrote an op-ed calling for "an aspirational agenda—an agenda that reveals the scope of action needed to meet the challenges we face, and that provides hope and galvanizes support" and pressed for Biden to demonstrate bold action and leadership. In June 2020, after the
killing of Breonna Taylor, Jackson praised
Mayor of Louisville Greg Fischer for announcing a review of police conduct and policies and criticized Senator
Rand Paul for delaying a bill that would make lynching a hate crime. In September, Jackson and
Jacob Blake's uncle Justin marched in
Kenosha, Wisconsin, and spoke at Grace Lutheran Church, where he condemned Blake's and Taylor's shooting deaths. In October, Jackson met with the Taylor and Blake families and led a march with them in
Evanston, Illinois. After police officer
Derek Chauvin murdered
George Floyd, Jackson traveled to Minnesota and called for
Michael O. Freeman to press charges against the four Minneapolis Police Department officers involved in Floyd's murder. Jackson said protests should continue "until something happens" and advocated for protesters to obey social distancing protocols in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Chauvin was convicted of Floyd's murder in April 2021. Jackson appeared with the Floyd family at a press conference shortly after the verdict, where he told attendees that they would have to "learn to live together as brothers and sisters and not die apart". Jackson supported the
withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan, calling it "long past time to end the folly in Afghanistan" and "long past time to start investing in the future of America's children and in meeting the existential threat posed by climate change." On August 3, 2021, Jackson and several others were arrested after protesting for Congress to end the
filibuster, protect voting rights and raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. In 2022, he wrote to an Argentinian judge in defense of the leaders of a yoga school who had been accused of forcing women into prostitution. Ahead of the
2023 State of the Union Address, Jackson wrote an op-ed calling for Biden "to lay out a plan—and to call the Congress to act" by extending the
Child Tax Credit to low-income workers and the poor, making voter registration automatic, limiting big money in politics, and reviving the Voting Rights Act. On March 5, Jackson attended an event on the
Edmund Pettus Bridge commemorating the 59th anniversary of
Bloody Sunday and spoke with Biden. In July 2023, Jackson announced his plans to step down as the leader of
Rainbow/PUSH. His decision was caused by his advanced age as well as health complications: Jackson was diagnosed with
Parkinson's disease in 2017 and was hospitalized twice in 2021, after testing positive for
COVID-19 and then after a head injury. ==Posthumous political impact==