Jackson still easily beat the one-time Congresswoman Halvorson, getting 71-percent of the vote to her 28-percent, in Tuesday's Illinois Primary. As of 10:15 p.m., 98-percent of the precincts had reported. The newly-mapped, largely-Democratic district stretches from Chicago's South Side to Kankakee.
After winning the Democratic nomination, Jackson spoke about a third airport in the Chicago area.
"Jesse Jr. is not airport obsessed. But I've been in Washington long enough to know that there is no public works project quite like an airport. With an airport comes a Hyatt, and a Hilton and a Fairmont and a UPS and a Federal Express. For once in my lifetime, I want to be able to catch a cab on the south side of Chicago," Jackson said.
Halvorson called Jackson, who first took office in 1995, to succeed. She said that Jackson, who is the focus of an ethics investigation, needed the challenge.
"It's not just Mister Jackson, it's a lot of people running for office. They have scandals in their background, but people keep reelecting them. And that is a disappointment and I don't know when we are going to come to a point where people stop electing people like that," Halvorson said.
