Jackson is the founder and current president of S.T.A.N.D. (Staying True To America's National Destiny), a conservative non-profit organization that describes itself as "a national organization dedicated to preserving life, the traditional family and our Judeo-Christian history and values as the Foundation of our Constitution and culture." He is head pastor at Exodus Faith Ministries, located in Chesapeake, Virginia. Jackson has appeared as a commentator on national news networks such as C-SPAN, Fox News and MSNBC.
Jackson was born on January 13, 1952 in Chester, Pennsylvania, 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.
He eventually joined the United States Marine Corps, serving for three years. Following the Marines, he entered the University of Massachusetts Boston and received his degree in three years. In 1978, he earned a law degree from Harvard Law School and practiced law in the Boston area for 15 years. Jackson studied theology at the Harvard Divinity School, and became a preacher with the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Boston.
Jackson taught administrative law at Northeastern University.[5] While in Boston, he appeared on several radio shows on WHDH, and hosted a nationally syndicated talk show, Earl Jackson Across America.
In 1996, he joined with the Christian Coalition to head "The Samaritan Project," an outreach program that distributed $500,000 to churches that were victims of arson. He served as a minister with the chapel of the Boston Red Sox for five years, and also served as the protestant chaplain for the Boston Fire Department.
In June 1998, Jackson was consecrated a bishop. Later that year, he and his family moved to Chesapeake, Virginia, and founded Exodus Faith Ministries. He taught commercial law at Strayer University's campuses in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.
On July 4, 2010, Jackson established Staying True to America's National Destiny (STAND) as a grassroots political organization with conservative stances on issues such as abortion, marriage, and government. In the same month, he made headlines for his views condemning the New Black Panther Party in regard to alleged voter intimidation.
Raised a Democrat, his Christianity led him to embrace conservatism. In 2012, he generated national attention with a recorded video appeal to blacks to leave the Democratic Party, saying it has abandoned the values of the black community and that blacks had developed a "slavish devotion" to the party. He has spoken in black churches across the country on the issues facing the country and says he has received overwhelmingly positive responses. In an October 2012 op-ed in The Washington Times, Jackson wrote that Democrats have "an agenda worthy of the Antichrist."
Cowboys and Tea Parties comment: All you have to do is look at Hilary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi and you can envision the Anti-Christ reference.
Jackson announced his candidacy for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia on December 1, 2012 at the Republican Party of Virginia Advance in Virginia Beach, Virginia. 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 had raised the least money of the seven candidates for the Republican nomination. The Richmond Times-Dispatch called his victory a "stunning upset" over the other candidates. Jackson is the first non-white to be nominated to a statewide office by Virginia Republicans since 1988.
