Mayor Brandon Johnson praises Jackson in PUSH keynote, says ‘I am not here’ without him

Mayor Brandon Johnson (left) greets Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III after delivering the keynote address at the Rainbow PUSH convention at the University of Chicago on Tuesday. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

Mayor Brandon Johnson said Tuesday he owes his improbable rise from single digits in the polls to the fifth floor of City Hall to the trail-blazing leadership of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Delivering the keynote address at the Rainbow PUSH annual convention, Johnson paid loving tribute to the 81-year-old civil rights icon who is stepping down from the group he founded more than 50 years ago and passing the baton to the Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III of West Baptist Church in Dallas.