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Preston Love Jr.
Love in 2020
Personal details
Born1942 (age 81–82)
Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseMartha
Parent
RelativesLaura Love (half-sister)
EducationUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln (BS)
Bellevue University (MPS)
WebsiteOfficial website

Preston Love Jr.[1] (born 1942)[2] is an American politician, professor, author and activist[3] who served as Jesse Jackson's campaign manager during the 1984 Democratic primaries.

Love is the first Black person in Nebraska to receive the support of a major political party for United States Senate. He was endorsed by the Nebraska Democratic Party for the 2020 United States Senate election in Nebraska to challenge incumbent Senator Ben Sasse. He is the Democratic candidate in the 2024 United States Senate special election in Nebraska, where he lost to incumbent senator Pete Ricketts in the general election.

Early life and education

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Preston Love Jr. was born in the early 1940s to Betty and Preston Love.[4] He graduated from Omaha Technical High School, where he was a member of the football team, in 1960.[5] The musician Laura Love is his younger half-sister.

Love graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics and Bellevue University with a Master of Professional Studies degree. He played for Nebraska Cornhuskers football and was drafted into the Detroit Lions.[6] Love played one season with the 1965 Lincoln Comets of the Pro Football League of America.[7] Love worked as a junior executive in IBM[4] and established the first retail computer store in Atlanta, Georgia.[8]

Love was inducted into the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame.[5]

Career

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Love is the founder and CEO of a nonprofit organization in Omaha called the Institute for Urban Development.[9] In 2021, Love launched an effort to promote the history of African Americans in Omaha focused on facilitating tours in North Omaha.[10]

Love worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha.[6] He is a columnist for the Omaha World-Herald and a contributor to the Fine Lines Journal.[11]

Politics

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Love served as vice-president of the NAACP chapter in Omaha, Nebraska.[6] He worked for Harold Washington during Chicago's 1983 mayoral election. During the 1984 Democratic primaries Love was selected by Jesse Jackson to serve as Jackson's presidential campaign manager.[4] Love worked as Andrew Young's chauffeur before his election as mayor and Young appointed Love as commissioner of planning for Atlanta.[12][13]

In 1990, Love formed an organization to recommend the addition of the contributions of black Nebraskans to the Nebraska Blue Book.[14] In 1992, Love ran for a seat on the Metropolitan Utilities District board, but later withdrew to recover from his addictions.[15][16][17] Love later became second associate chair in the Nebraska Democratic Party.[18] Love supported freeing Edward Poindexter, who he knew as a child, from his life-sentence.[12]

Chris Janicek won the Democratic senatorial nomination for the 2020 United States Senate election in Nebraska. However, during the campaign, he sent out sexually inappropriate text messages to staffers, causing the Nebraska Democratic Party to withdraw its support from him.[19] The Nebraska Democratic Party attempted to replace Janicek with Alisha Shelton, but Janicek refused to drop out preventing the replacement. Love later announced his intention to run a write-in senatorial campaign and received the support of the Nebraska Democratic Party, making him the first black person to receive the support of a major party for United States Senate in Nebraska.[20][21][22]

Love is the Democratic candidate in the 2024 United States Senate special election in Nebraska. He was unopposed in the primary and was facing incumbent senator Pete Ricketts in the general election.[23] He lost the race to Pete Ricketts by over 26 percentage points.[24]

Awards and recognition

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Love has been recognized for numerous accomplishments in Nebraska. His awards include:

Bibliography

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  • Wisdom's Foresight: From Cataracts to Pandemic Vaccines (2021) ISBN 978-1734587968
  • Your Bridge to History with Portia Love, illustrations by Regina Jeanpierre (2019) ISBN 978-0996446495
  • A Clear Vision: From Cataracts to Pandemic Vaccines (2020) ISBN 978-1734587944
  • The Jackson Papers: Post 1965 Voting Rights Act, Pre-Obama Era: The Jesse Jackson Run for President (2018) ISBN 978-0996446488
  • Economic Cataracts Volume 1. (2015) ISBN 978-0996446419

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Avant, J.D. (September 26, 2020). "Preston Love Jr. Isn't Through Yet". Omaha Magazine. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  2. ^ Sasse, Adam (April 15, 2023). "A Biography of Preston Love, Jr". North Omaha History. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  3. ^ "Love, Preston, Jr." Nebraska Archives Online. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "After Preston Love Jr. hit bottom, he got restored in the Lord". Omaha World-Herald. April 5, 2016. Archived from the original on September 18, 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Nebraska Hall of Fame welcomes 18 new inductees". News Channel Nebraska. April 1, 2023. Archived from the original on April 2, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c "About Preston Love, Jr". 4Urban. Archived from the original on April 2, 2023.
  7. ^ "1965 Lincoln Comets", Pro Football Archives. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  8. ^ "MLK Day speaker Preston Love rescheduled at Hastings College". Hastings College. March 10, 2020. Archived from the original on April 2, 2023.
  9. ^ (Jul 18, 2021) "Black Votes Matter Tour teaches students about Black history," KMTV. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  10. ^ "Tours of North Omaha Reflect on History, Look Toward Future," Nebraska Public Media. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  11. ^ "Lecturers: Preston Love, Jr.", Jefferson Educational Society. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  12. ^ a b "Once Upon a Time in Omaha: A Prodigal Son Returns to Reactivate his Hometown". North Omaha Information Support Everyone. February 26, 2021. Archived from the original on April 2, 2023.
  13. ^ "Preston Love Jr". Humanities Nebraska. Archived from the original on April 3, 2023.
  14. ^ "Blue Book likely to include deeds of blacks". Lincoln Journal Star. August 16, 1990. p. 24. Archived from the original on September 18, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Recounts leave results the same in four races". Lincoln Journal Star. June 11, 1992. p. 24. Archived from the original on September 18, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "MUD candidate treated for cocaine addiction". Lincoln Journal Star. August 16, 1992. p. 44. Archived from the original on September 18, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Candidate leaves Omaha campaign". Lincoln Journal Star. August 27, 1992. p. 27. Archived from the original on September 18, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Elected Officials". Nebraska Democratic Party. Archived from the original on April 3, 2023.
  19. ^ "Nebraska Democrat Urged to Quit Senate Race Over Sexual Texts to Aide". The New York Times. June 16, 2020. Archived from the original on September 18, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Preston Love Jr. announces write-in candidacy against Sen. Ben Sasse". Omaha World-Herald. September 10, 2020. Archived from the original on September 18, 2020.
  21. ^ "Nebraska Democrats announce Preston Love Jr. as write-in candidate for Senate". WOWT. September 10, 2020. Archived from the original on September 18, 2020.
  22. ^ "Nebraska Democrats name third pick to replace Senate nominee". WJAG. September 10, 2020. Archived from the original on September 18, 2020.
  23. ^ https://sos.nebraska.gov/sites/sos.nebraska.gov/files/doc/elections/2024/Statewide_Candidate_List.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  24. ^ https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/nebraska/?r=82986
  25. ^ (April 1, 2023) "Nebraska Hall of Fame welcomes 18 new inductees," News Nebraska Channel. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  26. ^ (November 5, 2021) "Love, Timm inducted into Northeast's alumni hall of success," Northeast Community College. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  27. ^ (October 28, 2022) "Our Inaugural Nelson Gala was a Huge Success!", Nebraska Democratic Party. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  28. ^ (November 19, 2021) "Dressing Down and more — #NebDems News", Nebraska Democratic Party. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Preston Love Jr..
Party political offices
Preceded by Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Nebraska
(Class 2)
2020 (endorsed), 2024
Served alongside: Chris Janicek (2020, disavowed) 		Most recent
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