How Jesse Jackson set the stage for Bernie Sanders and today’s progressives

The coalitions that Jackson built during his presidential campaigns created enduring infrastructure for later progressives, particularly in Vermont.

By: Bert Johnson, Middlebury College, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: February 18, 2026

Words: 1,062

Last Updated: 3 weeks, 2 days ago

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By Bert Johnson, Middlebury College

Jesse Jackson’s two campaigns for president, in 1984 and 1988, were unsuccessful but historic. The civil rights activist and organizer, who died on Feb. 17, 2026, helped pave the way for Barack Obama’s election a generation later as the nation’s first – and so far only – African American president.

Jackson’s campaigns energized a multiracial coalition that not only provided support for other late-20th-century Democratic politicians, including …

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