Between tributes and songs, the crowd celebrating civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. at Friday’s homegoing got a not-so-subtle call: Vote for his son.

For a short speech in front of thousands, Jesse Jackson Jr. stepped up to the cross-shaped lectern. The former congressman is balancing grief over his father’s death with a political campaign to win back the seat he resigned from amid a campaign finance scandal that sent him to prison.

Before his eulogy, Jackson was introduced as “the next Congressman of the 2nd Congressional District,” another sign the race had been reshaped.

“He’s on his way back. He will be back in the House of Representatives doing what Jesse would have him do,” U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of California said to end the following eulogy. “Just think, two of Jesse Jackson’s sons in the House of Representatives, knowing and understanding what their daddy was all about.”

Even as Jackson has stepped away from the campaign trail to be with family and host remembrances, he has been thrust into the spotlight. In TV interviews and speeches focused on his father, the race’s best-known candidate has been front and center as a field of contenders vies to replace Rep. Robin Kelly, who is running for U.S. Senate instead of seeking reelection.

As Jackson spoke again at a private funeral Saturday, the race’s other front-runners, including Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller and state Sen. Robert Peters, jockeyed for votes elsewhere.

Peters was one of only three candidates to attend a public town hall at Thornton Fractional North High School, possibly the last public forum featuring multiple candidates. In addition to Jackson and Miller, state Sen. Willie Preston and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner Yumeka Brown did not attend the town hall in Calumet City.

Peters, businessman Eric France and independent candidate Ashley Banks largely agreed on policies during the town hall. The federal minimum wage should be raised, the long-debated South Suburban Airport near Peotone should be built and President Donald Trump should be fought, they said.

Peters sought to separate himself by pointing to his progressive record in Springfield. He called for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be abolished and health care to be guaranteed for all Americans.

“We’re the richest, most powerful country in the history of the planet,” he said. “We can guarantee people health care. We can guarantee people good schools. We can guarantee people a good life.”

France touted his experience fighting against domestic violence as an activist. He argued his background as a developer would help him secure more housing.

“You have got to have the right people at the table and the right people in Washington,” he said. “I haven’t built more in the 2nd District because I didn’t have anybody who I could work with who understood it to get it done.”

After the event, Peters criticized his competitors for not attending, calling their absence “unfair to voters.” He argued that Preston sought to avoid questions about his immigration stances, while Miller was trying to dodge questions about the money funding her campaign.

A campaign spokesperson said Preston had instead opted to campaign near poll sites Saturday.

An hour after the town hall in nearby Flossmoor, Miller leaned on a wall as she talked with a handful of voters who attended a meet-and-greet at the Chicago Minami jiu-jitsu dojo next to her campaign office.

One of the five attendees asked her what focus she would bring to Congress. Health care, she answered.

She said she would fight to add birthing centers across the Southland and restore women’s health research funding, interrupted at times by the sound of a white-robed trainer somersaulting over a mat. When a voter asked how she would push back against the Trump administration’s anti-vaccine efforts, she argued her presence as a health care expert would change discussions on Capitol Hill.

“The conversation changes based on who’s in the room,” Miller said. “The room is going to change.”

She then slid off her sneakers, walked onto the blue cushioned floor and learned how to block a right-handed punch.

Afterward, Miller — whose campaign opponents say is supported by around $5 million in campaign contributions and independent expenditures tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a group that advocates for Israel’s interests — pushed back against Peters’ criticism.

She attended a brunch Saturday morning before hitting polling sites and planned to host two virtual fundraisers and meet voters at several Hyde Park high-rises later in the day, she said.

“It’s not avoiding people, it’s that I already have a schedule, and it’s a pretty busy schedule,” she said.

She argued that she would be an “initiator” on Capitol Hill, pointing to the five pieces of legislation she plans to introduce on day one if elected. The policies range from guardrails against online bullying to heart attack response training expansions and new uterine fibroid research funding.

She also said her long-term residence in the district made her unique among the top candidates.

“Everywhere that we go, I’m well-known in the district. People know me because I’m part of this district,” she said. “It makes a difference.”

A campaign spokesperson for Jackson said he plans to resume campaign activities in the upcoming week ahead of the March 17 primary. Jackson has argued that he should be elected because of his experience and his plans to enshrine access to health care in a Constitutional amendment, among other priorities.

At Friday’s service, Jackson began his remarks by chiding earlier speakers from the “political class” for speaking too long. Three former presidents had preceded him. Then he echoed some of his father’s most famous words.

“Keeping hope alive is the answer to suicidality,” he said. “Not only for individuals who might want to kill themselves, but for a nation on the brink of self-destruction.”

He focused his Saturday eulogy on his family, sharing praise for each of his siblings and his mother, Jacqueline Jackson. He announced the campaign on his father’s birthday, Oct. 8, he told the crowd amid tears.

As tissues flowed on stage, he recalled his 17-month stint in prison. He asked his father if he would help get him out, he said. “I’m trying son, but don’t give up. Hold your head high. Stick your chest out, you can make it,” he recalled his father saying.

“When I was in the hole, I thought about the stranger,” he said. “My dad is the stranger. He can save people from prison, go around the world and change everybody. He’s the one we turned to in our lowest hour. My dad was the stranger, the embodiment of God.”

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(Tribune reporter Darcel Rockett contributed.)

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