With congressional primary elections scheduled next week, Patch is profiling each of the four Republican candidates running for the U.S. Senate, who will face each other on the ballot June 12.

On the face of it, most political observers might count out E.W. Jackson in Virginia's Senate GOP primary on Tuesday. But Jackson, who was raised in foster homes until he was 9, eventually joined the Marines and graduated from Harvard Law School, never gives up.

"I think I'm going to win. I really do," he told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "I believe that we're going to see a tremendous upset on June 12."

Jackson is up against former senator and Gov. George Allen, Jamie Radtke and Del. Bob Marshall.

If elected, Jackson has said he wants to help get rid of some federal agencies (Education, Commerce, Energy and Environmental Protection Agency, he told the Times-Dispatch) and repeal "Obamacare."

While studying at Harvard Law, Jackson said he became interested in religion and was accepted into the Baptist ministry in Boston. He combined his interests and studied at Harvard Divinity School and also practiced law for 15 years, later devoting himself full-time to being a minister. He started and managed an all-gospel radio station in Cambridge.

Jackson, 60, a native of Chester, Pa., lives in Chesapeake, Va., with his wife Theodora. Married for 40 years, the couple has three children. 

He runs his nondenominational ministry, Exodus Faith Ministries, from Chesapeake. He is president of a non-profit called STAND -- Staying True to America's National Destiny -- and hosts a Christian radio program on WYRM-AM 1110.

Jackson has been an active campaigner. He's scheduled to appear at a home-schooling convention Thursday and a gun show over the weekend in Dulles.

To learn more about Jackson, visit his campaign website at: http://jacksonforvirginia.org/