
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 10, 1995                   TAG: 9509110165
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                LENGTH: Short

JESSE JR. TO RUN FOR U.S. HOUSE

The eldest son of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson announced his candidacy on Saturday for the Congressional seat that Democratic Rep. Mel Reynolds is leaving.

Jesse Jackson Jr. welcomed his father's support but said he expects to be elected on his own merits: ``God has blessed me with a good name, a good name whose good works I intend to extend. But I neither seek nor expect any `gimmes.'''

The 30-year-old civil rights activist and lawyer added, ``This is a democracy, not a royal lineage. I intend to work and earn your trust ... your respect ... your vote.''

The father introduced the son to more than 400 cheering supporters at the Salem Baptist Church. It was a combination news conference, political rally and revival meeting.

``We need an urban policy with incentives to reinvest in America, to reindustrialize America, to put America back to work at liveable wages,'' the candidate said, noting that labor rights, universal health care, affordable housing and safe neighborhoods are also priorities.

His district, the 2nd, is 65 percent black, about 30 percent white and 5 percent Hispanic.

Jackson is national field director of the National Rainbow Coalition, his father's political group

A date for the special election has not been set.

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB