(AURN News) — Rev. Jesse Jackson died at age 84 on Feb. 17, 2026, in Chicago after a lengthy illness, leaving a political legacy that reshaped the Democratic Party and presidential politics.
His groundbreaking 1984 and 1988 campaigns marked the first viable nationwide bids for a major party nomination by an African American candidate and mobilized millions of new voters.
In 1988, Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition united Black voters, labor, farmers and progressives, and his victory in the Michigan caucuses briefly put him ahead in delegate count.
Though he did not secure the nomination, his strong performance pushed Democrats to adopt proportional delegate rules with a 15 percent threshold — reforms that remain in place and later helped candidates such as former President Barack Obama build winning delegate coalitions.
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