Jackson Family Withdraws Posthumous Endorsement of Stratton

The family of the late civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson announced on Monday that they are withdrawing what had been presented as his posthumous endorsement of Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Dick Durbin.

Jackson, who died on February 17 at age 84, had been reviewing candidates for the March 19 primary before his passing, according to his son Yusef Jackson, chief operating officer of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Yusef Jackson explained in a statement that the endorsement process was incomplete due to his father's health challenges and death just over a month earlier. "Out of respect for my father, we decided not to publicly release his intended selections given the process had not been finalized," he said. He added that a draft sample ballot under development was released without authorization over the weekend, leading to the confusion.

Stratton's campaign had promoted the endorsement on Saturday, citing notification from the Jackson family and organizers at a Women's History Month event at the Rainbow PUSH office in Chicago. The campaign shared a photograph of Jackson with Stratton and...