Jonathan L. Jackson

Jonathan L. Jackson has served as the U.S. Representative for Illinois’s 1st District since 2023.¹ Before holding office, he was a business professor at Chicago State University and City Colleges of Chicago, and a partner in a Chicago beer distributorship.² He also served as national spokesman for the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.³ He worked on cases of wrongful conviction and took part in international missions to secure the release of American prisoners.²

He has supported legislation to create a federal commission to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans.⁴ He has proposed a constitutional amendment regarding the right to vote.⁵ He sponsored the Blair Holt Firearm Owner Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2026.⁶ Jackson joined calls for a cease-fire in Gaza during his first year in office.⁷ He cosponsored the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act.⁸ He told the Chicago Tribune that detainees at a Broadview ICE facility reported being crowded into unsanitary rooms and denied adequate food and water.⁹ During his 2022 campaign, his platform included strengthening the Affordable Care Act, supporting legislation to end unlawful access to guns, and bringing more federal funds to the district for jobs and infrastructure like the CTA Red Line extension.¹⁰

He sponsored the Sanction Sea Pirates Act of 2025, which passed the House.⁵ His campaign says that before Congress, he led public hearings and civic campaigns that helped keep Guggenheim Elementary School open during a wave of Chicago school closures.¹¹ He serves on the House Agriculture and Foreign Affairs committees.⁵