CHICAGO – The former congresswoman and one-time Mary Kay saleswoman dashed up to the pulpit of the black megachurch and offered stories of growing up poor and raising two children on her own as she tried to win the congregation’s support for her bid to unseat Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.
Debbie Halvorson, who is white, is giving the son of the iconic civil rights leader his first real competition in a district that has been held by a black congressman for three decades. She believes recent ethics scandals have made him vulnerable, and a new congressional map has added more white and rural voters to his district — along with a large chunk of the area Halvorson represented until she lost to a candidate with strong tea party support in 2010.
Jackson is fighting back by hiring a pricey public relations firm, opening a campaign office outside of Chicago in Kankakee and registering new voters in rural areas. The campaign is shaping up as one of the toughest fights in Illinois’ March 20 primary, and it could be the latest test of whether famously segregated Chicago and its surrounding suburbs have moved beyond voting along racial lines.
“We need someone who says it
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