Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) resigned from Congress on Wednesday amid ongoing federal investigations into his campaign finances, ending a more than six-month absence from office that has included multiple stints at the Mayo Clinic to battle what his doctors said was bipolar depression.
Jackson, 47, submitted his letter of resignation Wednesday afternoon to the office of House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), after telling high level Democratic officials in Chicago and the state capital of his plans, according to party officials.
Barely two weeks after easily winning a 10th term — in which he never publicly campaigned — Jackson’s resignation marks the end of a political career that once had ambitions far beyond Chicago’s South Side congressional district. This time four years ago, Jackson was a leading contender to win the appointment to fill the Senate seat being vacated by President Obama.
He had previously considered bids for Chicago mayor and even governor, trying to fulfill the broader political ambitions of his father, Jesse Jackson Sr., the civil rights activist whose presidential runs in the 1980s were considered the first credible efforts by an African American to wage a bid for national office.
In his resignation letter, Jackson acknowledged making “his share of mistakes” and that the probe is ongoing. He appeared to suggest a plea bargain was possible, saying he would “cooperate with the investigators and accept responsibility for my mistakes.”
“None of us is immune from our share of shortcomings or human frailties and I pray that I will be remember for what I did right,” he wrote.
“The constituents of the Second District deserve a full-time legislator in Washington, something I cannot be for the foreseeable future,” he added. “My health issues and treatment regimen have become incompatible with service in the House.”
By law, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) will call a special election to replace Jackson within the next four months.
The rising star’s career took a sharp turn in December 2008, when FBI agents arrested then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) and charged him with trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder.
Blagojevich, now in federal prison in Colorado, denied that his efforts were anything more than normal political fundraising, but the FBI and House Ethics Committee have probed the efforts of a Jackson intermediary to raise money for Blagojevich shortly before his arrest. He has never been charged with a crime in connection to the Senate seat, but the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia has also recently been investigating allegations that Jackson improperly used thousands of dollars in his campaign fund for personal expenditures.
As the investigations unfolded, Jackson’s family life fell apart as an affair with a Washington nightclub hostess became public.
First elected to the House in 1994, he represents Illinois’s 2nd Congressional District, an area encompassing parts of Cook and Will counties, southern suburbs of Chicago and more rural areas of central Illinois. Despite his months-long absence from the district, Jackson won reelection with 71 percent of the vote.
Jackson’s last recorded vote was on June 8. Despite his absence, his office issued at least three press releases shortly after his medical leave began.
Democratic colleagues — especially fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus — came to his defense in the days after he first announced his medical leave.
“The man said that he is exhausted. Even Christ has to step away from the multitudes in order to refresh. He is very wise to do that,” Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), himself a cancer survivor, said then. “To me, it’s not a big thing. His health is what’s more important right now.”
“All of us around here get exhausted,” Rush added. “Most of us try to fight our way through it, but he’s smart to step away.”
Jackson, 47, submitted his letter of resignation Wednesday afternoon to the office of House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), after telling high level Democratic officials in Chicago and the state capital of his plans, according to party officials.
Barely two weeks after easily winning a 10th term — in which he never publicly campaigned — Jackson’s resignation marks the end of a political career that once had ambitions far beyond Chicago’s South Side congressional district. This time four years ago, Jackson was a leading contender to win the appointment to fill the Senate seat being vacated by President Obama.
He had previously considered bids for Chicago mayor and even governor, trying to fulfill the broader political ambitions of his father, Jesse Jackson Sr., the civil rights activist whose presidential runs in the 1980s were considered the first credible efforts by an African American to wage a bid for national office.
In his resignation letter, Jackson acknowledged making “his share of mistakes” and that the probe is ongoing. He appeared to suggest a plea bargain was possible, saying he would “cooperate with the investigators and accept responsibility for my mistakes.”
“None of us is immune from our share of shortcomings or human frailties and I pray that I will be remember for what I did right,” he wrote.
“The constituents of the Second District deserve a full-time legislator in Washington, something I cannot be for the foreseeable future,” he added. “My health issues and treatment regimen have become incompatible with service in the House.”
By law, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) will call a special election to replace Jackson within the next four months.
The rising star’s career took a sharp turn in December 2008, when FBI agents arrested then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) and charged him with trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder.
Blagojevich, now in federal prison in Colorado, denied that his efforts were anything more than normal political fundraising, but the FBI and House Ethics Committee have probed the efforts of a Jackson intermediary to raise money for Blagojevich shortly before his arrest. He has never been charged with a crime in connection to the Senate seat, but the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia has also recently been investigating allegations that Jackson improperly used thousands of dollars in his campaign fund for personal expenditures.
As the investigations unfolded, Jackson’s family life fell apart as an affair with a Washington nightclub hostess became public.
First elected to the House in 1994, he represents Illinois’s 2nd Congressional District, an area encompassing parts of Cook and Will counties, southern suburbs of Chicago and more rural areas of central Illinois. Despite his months-long absence from the district, Jackson won reelection with 71 percent of the vote.
Jackson’s last recorded vote was on June 8. Despite his absence, his office issued at least three press releases shortly after his medical leave began.
Democratic colleagues — especially fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus — came to his defense in the days after he first announced his medical leave.
“The man said that he is exhausted. Even Christ has to step away from the multitudes in order to refresh. He is very wise to do that,” Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), himself a cancer survivor, said then. “To me, it’s not a big thing. His health is what’s more important right now.”
“All of us around here get exhausted,” Rush added. “Most of us try to fight our way through it, but he’s smart to step away.”