E. W. Jackson

Earl Walker Jackson Sr. (born January 13, 1952) is an American conservative politician, Protestant minister, and lawyer in Virginia who is a candidate in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries.

Jackson was born on January 13, 1952, in Chester, Pennsylvania, and he is the great-grandson of slaves from Orange County, Virginia.

His parents separated when he was a child, and he spent most of his childhood in a foster home.

Jackson joined the United States Marine Corps in 1970.

He was honorably discharged as a corporal in 1973.

He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Boston and Harvard Law School.

He practiced law in the Boston area for 15 years.

Jackson had been a lifelong Democrat; however, in the 1980s, he embraced conservatism.

He said of his decision, "I had a crisis of conscience. Can I be in a party that holds these views that are antithetical to my worldview? In my personal opinion, it is difficult if you are a Bible-believing Christian to reconcile that to some of the positions that the Democrat Party has taken."

Jackson has claimed that Democratic Party elites are "driving an agenda to rid the party and the country of God," and has claimed that his policies are closer to those of the "average Democrat in Virginia" than the Democratic Party itself.

Jackson said he was asked to leave his first ministerial position in 1982, at a Baptist church in Cambridge, after two years.

He said of his tenure there, "It was an older congregation, and I was a young 27-year-old firebrand. It was not a good mix."

He remained in Boston until the late 1990s as a practicing attorney and preacher.

While in Boston, he appeared on several radio shows on WHDH and hosted a nationally syndicated talk show, Earl Jackson Across America.

While in Boston, Jackson became involved in extended legal battles with the Federal Communications Commission while serving as the general manager of a radio station.

In 1993, Jackson was forced to enter bankruptcy protection.

He has taught commercial law at Strayer University's campuses in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.

In June 1998, Jackson was consecrated a bishop.

Later that year, he and his family moved to Chesapeake, Virginia, and began holding weekly Bible studies.

In 1999, Jackson and his wife founded Exodus Faith Ministries, a nondenominational church.

The church rented a space in a storefront location, but was forced to move due to zoning regulations, an incident that helped to shape his concerns of "government overreach".

The church rents a room at a Chesapeake hotel, where Jackson preaches every Sunday.

In May 2011, Jackson announced he was running for the United States Senate seat in Virginia in the 2012 election.

Jackson unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the United States Senate in Virginia in the 2012 and 2018 elections.

He is head pastor at Exodus Faith Ministries, located in Chesapeake, Virginia and founder of Staying True to America's National Destiny, a Christian political organization.

In 2012, Jackson generated national attention with a recorded video appeal to blacks to leave the Democratic Party, claiming that it had "abandoned the values of the black community" and that blacks had developed a "slavish devotion" to the party.

He has also spoken in black churches on issues facing the country.

Jackson has claimed many black leaders, such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, as well as Barack Obama, "are telling black kids what they can't do."

He opposed Obama's perceived "emphasis on race" and has said "the one thing I at least hoped for from the president—and I didn't have much hope for him—was that he'd bring us together. But he has divided us."

In response to rebukes from some black leaders over his comments, Jackson said, "In order to correct something, you've got to speak to it. ... [T]he last thing in the world I'm trying to do, as some have suggested, is to make white people feel good. I'm trying to make black folks, particularly youth, wake up to the possibilities of a life of prosperity."

Jackson rejects the label of "African-American", calling himself "an American of African descent".

He said he is proud of his heritage but says "I just think we've got to come together as Americans, as one family. So I do point that out because that's the reality of it."

George Allen won the June 2012 primary; Jackson received 5% of the vote.

Jackson announced his candidacy for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia on December 1, 2012, at the Republican Party of Virginia Advance in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

He was the Republican Party nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 2013.

On January 10, 2013, Jackson released his "Engage and Reform Agenda" which the campaign called "commonsense reforms [that] reassert the principles of our Constitution and Let Liberty Light the Way for Virginia."

On May 18, 2013, Jackson was nominated as the Republican Party candidate for the position, at the party convention in Richmond.

The nomination process took four ballots and ten hours of voting.

Jackson led in each round of balloting, reaching a majority on the final ballot.

Jackson founded Chesapeake's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast, now in its 14th year.