Jesse Jackson helped pave the way for Obama and reshaped U.S. politics.

Jesse Jackson, born Oct. 8, 1941, and who died Feb. 17, 2026 at age 84, was a civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate whose campaigns expanded voter participation and helped prompt Democratic delegate reforms that introduced a proportional allocation with a 15% threshold.

Jesse Jackson was a civil rights activist, minister and two-time Democratic presidential candidate whose life was shaped by segregation in the Deep South and by his later organizing in Chicago. He marched in civil rights demonstrations, led Operation Breadbasket, and remained publicly active into the 2020s, including crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma in March 2025. Jackson ran for president in 1984 and 1988, gaining significant primary support and becoming a prominent voice in Democratic politics. His campaigns and advocacy contributed to changes in how delegates are allocated within the party. What is known: - Jesse Louis Jackson was born Oct. 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, and died Feb. 17, 2026, at age 84. - He participated in civil rights organizing in the South and later led Operation Breadbasket in Chicago; he also crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on March 9, 2025. - Jackson ran for president in 1984, finishing third with about 18% of the primary vote and winning Louisiana and the District of Columbia, and again in 1988, winning nearly 7 million votes and 11 contests including multiple Southern primaries. - His 1988 campaign increased his share of white voters from about 5% in 1984 to about 12% in 1988 and helped mobilize broader participation among African Americans. - Jackson advocated reforms to delegate allocation that led, beginning in 1992, to a system in which candidates receiving at least 15% of the vote could receive a proportion of delegates. Summary: Jackson's life combined civil rights organizing, religious leadership and electoral politics, and his presidential campaigns changed aspects of Democratic primary rules and expanded political participation among Black voters. His work is frequently cited as a factor that helped create opportunities for later candidates, including Barack Obama. Undetermined at this time.