In the preceding Democratic Party primary held on November 29, Jackson defeated Emil Jones by a margin of 48% to 39%; there were three other candidates.

In the general election, Jackson won 76% of the vote against 24% for the Republican candidate, Thomas Somer.

[3] After seeking approval from former Democratic National Committee Chairman and Chicagoan David Wilhelm, he decided to run for the seat.

[7] Jackson used a combination of multimedia, targeted marketing and an army of community activists to deliver his positive campaign messages.

[10] As part of his campaign he was the only candidate to embrace the third Chicago airport proposal being championed by Jim Edgar at the time.

At the time, the Chicago Bulls had just lost the popular B. J. Armstrong in the 1995 Expansion draft to the Toronto Raptors and Michael Jordan had recently returned to basketball from playing minor league baseball.

[7] During this campaign, his lone controversy was the fact that his salary as field director the Rainbow Coalition had been subsidized by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, which was accused by a Senate investigating committee of having ties to organized crime.

[20] Jackson was perceived as less charismatic than his father and less credentialed than the Rhodes Scholar Reynolds, but his family pedigree was expected to help him open the doors that would enable him to serve the needs of his constituents effectively.

Many recipients felt compelled to return the donations as a scandal erupted involving the true source of the funds.

[22] Eventually there was a Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Department of Justice interrogation of Mr. Huang concerning irregularities which seemed to relate to Jackson and Bill Clinton.