Jack Ryan (politician) facts for kids

John Clemens Ryan (born October 6, 1959) is an American who used to work in finance and politics. He was a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Illinois in 2004. Before that, in 2000, he stopped being an active partner at a big financial company called Goldman Sachs. He then chose to teach at Hales Franciscan High School, a private school in Chicago.

His 2004 campaign for the Senate, where he ran against Barack Obama, got a lot of attention from the news.

In 2005, Ryan started a news company called 22nd Century Media. This company focused on sharing local news in newspapers and online. In 2015, Ryan left this company to start REX. REX is a technology company that helps people sell homes without using the traditional real estate system. REX aimed to lower the fees people pay when selling a home. This led to big changes in the real estate world.

Early Life and Education

John Ryan grew up in Wilmette, Illinois. His father, Donald Robert Ryan, worked as a managing partner at a trading company. John was one of six children. He went to New Trier High School and finished in 1977.

After high school, he went to Dartmouth College. He did very well there, graduating with high honors. He then earned two advanced degrees from Harvard University: a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a Juris Doctor (JD), which is a law degree. He also graduated with honors from Harvard.

Career Journey

Before working in finance, Ryan helped at Casa Juan Diego. This was a place for refugees, people seeking safety, from Central American countries.

Later, he worked at Goldman Sachs, a major financial company. He started as an investment banker and eventually became a partner. He worked for them first in New York City and then in Chicago.

Around 2000, after Goldman Sachs became a publicly owned company, Ryan became very wealthy. He decided to leave Goldman Sachs and spent three years teaching at Hales Franciscan High School in Chicago. He left teaching to run for the Senate in 2004.

Starting in 2005, he managed 22nd Century Media. This company published 15 local newspapers and websites in the Chicago area.

Today, he runs REX, a technology company that helps people sell homes. Ryan has used the money he earned from REX to help build homes and schools for children. As part of its mission, REX builds a home for someone in need for every 50 homes it sells.

Running for Senate

In 2004, John Ryan wanted to become a U.S. Senator for Illinois. He hoped to take the place of the retiring Republican Senator, Peter Fitzgerald. On March 16, 2004, he won the Republican primary election. This meant he would run against Democrat Barack Obama.

During his Senate campaign, Ryan supported ideas like cutting taxes for everyone and reducing government spending. He also believed in making sure everyone had equal chances in education.

However, Ryan decided to stop his campaign on June 25, 2004. He officially withdrew on July 29. This happened after some private information from his divorce became public.

Campaign Challenges

In 2004, Ryan's campaign team had a worker follow Barack Obama and record his public activities. This plan did not work well. Both Barack Obama and many others, including some of Ryan's own supporters, thought this was not a good idea. Ryan's spokesperson apologized and promised to give Obama more space. Obama said he was okay with Ryan's decision.

Ryan had been married to actress Jeri Ryan from 1991 to 1999. They had a son named Alex. When they divorced, some of their records were kept private to protect their son. Five years later, during Ryan's Senate campaign, news organizations wanted these private records to be made public.

On March 3, 2004, some of Ryan's opponents in the Republican primary also asked for the records to be released. Both Ryan and his former wife agreed to make their divorce records public, but they wanted to keep the records about their son private. They felt these records could harm their son if released.

On March 16, 2004, Ryan won the Republican primary election. He received 36 percent of the votes, beating businessman Jim Oberweis. Obama won the Democratic primary.

On March 29, 2004, a judge ruled that some of the private records should be opened to the public. The next week, Barack Obama asked Democrats not to use this information in the campaign. Ryan's campaign said that people who supported Obama had already been sharing reports about the divorce records.

In May 2004, a poll showed Ryan was behind Obama. Ryan officially withdrew from the race on July 29, 2004.

Local Journalism

After his time in politics, Ryan went back to his newspaper business. On February 27, 2014, he started the Highland Park Landmark. This was the 12th local news publication from his company, 22nd Century Media. It was also the fifth local paper to serve the Chicago North Shore suburbs.

When asked why he chose to work in the news industry, Ryan told the Chicago Reader that he wanted to improve the communities where people live. He felt that providing local news was a very good way to do this.