Jesse Jackson Endorses Hillary Clinton for President

Jackson announced his endorsement of Clinton despite having received Sanders' endorsement in his own 1988 presidential bid

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., endorsed Hillary Clinton for president Saturday, calling her “the most qualified and best hope” for America.

Jackson announced the endorsement at the “Kids Off the Block” memorial in Chicago's Roseland neighborhood, dedicated to children killed by gun violence. Clinton visited the memorial with Jackson in March before the Illinois primary election, where she met with several mothers who had lost their children in shootings.

“It is profoundly wrong,” Clinton said in March, “to see how many children’s lives are ended by senseless gun violence.”

He endorsed Clinton as a private citizen, according to a release, as the Rainbow PUSH Coalition does not endorse political candidates.

Jackson also tweeted his endorsement, saying: "On matters of human & voting rights,racial&gender equality& affordable healthcare you can trust her.@HillaryClinton."

Jackson intentionally declined to endorse earlier in the Democratic primary, calling both Clinton and Sanders “outstanding candidates” who were “going in the right progressive direction.”

Jackson is the founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and a former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. A video on Bernie Sanders’ campaign YouTube account shows Sanders, then the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, endorsing Jackson for President in 1988.

“Tonight we are here to support a man who, when elected president, will move boldly to end the growing disparity between the rich and the poor,” Sanders said in his 1988 endorsement. “It is not acceptable to him, to me, or to most Americans that 10 percent of the population of this nation is able to own 83 percent of the wealth, and the other 93 percent of us share 17 percent of the wealth.”

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