Hope '88 Register and Vote

Photograph of Jesse Jackson on left half of button.  Black and red text on a white background on right half of button.
 

Jesse Jackson ran to be the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party in 1988. Michael Dukakis won the nomination and went on to lose in the 1988 presidential election. This was Jackson’s second attempt for the bid and was viewed as a more serious candidate this time around. 

He was popular with the poorer population of voters and pushed them to register and vote. Visiting the south and ghetto areas of the north helped him gain popularity and spread his message. Some who had not voted since the 1960s civil rights movement voted for Jackson. The new wave of voters used their constitutional right to make the Senate less conservative in 1986. Jackson supported the LGBT community and wanted to end discrimination in the workplace.

Jackson founded the National Rainbow Coalition in 1984 and later merged it with PUSH (People United to Save Humanity). It included people from minority communities, giving them a platform to voice their needs and opinions. “The results are startling. Farmers from Iowa campaign in black Chicago, white ethnic hard-hats and young gays and lesbians work together in northern Wisconsin, genteel peace activists and black hip-hoppers leaflet in the projects of Hartford”. The Coalition was how Jackson wanted his cabinet to look like to redistributed power and push democracy.  

Returning jobs to America was another one of his goals. He wanted tax reform to reverse what Reagan’s legislation did. His economic plan was equated to the New Deal because he wanted to quell the homeless crisis and give the working class more power.