John Edward James (born June 8, 1981) is an American politician, businessman, and former military officer serving as the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Michigan's 10th congressional district Michigan's 10th congressional district is a United States congressional district in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. It consists of southern Macomb County, Rochester and Rochester Hills in Oakland County. District boundaries were redrawn i ...

since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he was its nominee for

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. In

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, James declared his candidacy in Michigan's redrawn 10th congressional district, a seat he won and was re-elected to in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. On April 7, 2025, James announced his candidacy for

governor of Michigan The governor of Michigan is the head of government of the U.S. state of Michigan. The current governor is Gretchen Whitmer, a member of the Democratic Party, who was inaugurated on January 1, 2019, as the state's 49th governor. She was re-ele ...

in the 2026 election.

Early life and military career

James was born in

Southfield, Michigan Southfield is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Southfield borders Detroit to the north, roughly northwest of downtown Downtown Detroit, Detroit. As of the 2020 Uni ...

, in 1981 and grew up Baptist in the

Palmer Woods The Palmer Woods Historic District is a neighborhood located in Detroit, Michigan, bounded by Seven Mile Road, Woodward Avenue, and Strathcona Drive. There are approximately 295 homes in the district, which is between the City of Highland Pa ...

neighborhood of

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. He graduated from the Catholic Brother Rice High School in 1999. He graduated from the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

(West Point) in 2004, and served eight years in the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, participating in multiple tours of duty in

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

as an

AH-64 Apache The Hughes/McDonnell Douglas/Boeing AH-64 Apache ( ) is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. Nose-mounted sensors help acquire targets and provide night vis ...

pilot. Two of his West Point classmates are fellow congressmen

Wesley Hunt Wesley Parish Hunt (born November 13, 1981) is an American politician and veteran serving as the U.S. representative for Texas's 38th congressional district since 2023. He is a member of the Republican Party. Early life and education Hunt wa ...

and Pat Ryan. He attended

Ranger School The Ranger School is a 62-day United States Army small unit tactics and leadership course that develops functional skills directly related to units whose mission is to engage the enemy in close combat and direct fire battles. Ranger training w ...

and became Ranger-tabbed as a captain. James received a master's degree in

supply chain management In commerce, supply chain management (SCM) deals with a system of procurement (purchasing raw materials/components), operations management, logistics and marketing channels, through which raw materials can be developed into finished produc ...

from

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

Smeal College of Business The Penn State Smeal College of Business at the Pennsylvania State University offers undergraduate, graduate, and executive education programs to more than 6,000 students. Accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business ...

and an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Ross School of Business The University of Michigan Ross School of Business (branded as Michigan Ross) is the business school of the University of Michigan, a Public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The school was originally established ...

Business career

In 2012, James joined James Group International, where his father, John A. James, was the CEO. James Group is a global

supply chain A supply chain is a complex logistics system that consists of facilities that convert raw materials into finished products and distribute them to end consumers or end customers, while supply chain management deals with the flow of goods in distri ...

management service company; James became its director of operations, and eventually became president of James Group International and CEO of its subsidiary, Renaissance Global Logistics. Renaissance Global, based in Detroit, was the recipient of a $1–2 million

Paycheck Protection Program The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a $953-billion business loan program established by the United States federal government during the First presidency of Donald Trump, Trump administration in 2020 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and ...

loan during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. James was named one of ''Detroit Business Journal's'' 30 in their 30s of 2012, and ''

Michigan Chronicle The ''Michigan Chronicle'' is a weekly African-American newspaper based in Detroit, Michigan. It was founded in 1936 by John H. Sengstacke, editor of the ''Chicago Defender''. Together with the ''Defender'' and a handful of other African-Ameri ...

'''s 40 under 40 of 2014. He served as a board member of the Michigan Council for Future Mobility, Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council and National Veteran Business Development Council. He serves on the Detroit Workforce Development Board.

Political career

2018 U.S. Senate race

In September 2017, James entered the Republican primary for the

2018 United States Senate election in Michigan The 2018 United States Senate election in Michigan took place on November 6, 2018, in order to elect the Classes of United States Senators, Class 1 United States Senate, U.S. Senator from the Michigan, State of Michigan, concurrently with a Mic ...

in an attempt to unseat three-term incumbent

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

Debbie Stabenow Deborah Ann Stabenow ( ; née Greer; born April 29, 1950) is an American politician who served from 2001 to 2025 as a United States senator from Michigan. A member of the Democratic Party, she was Michigan's first female U.S. senator. Before he ...

, as well as become Michigan's first African-American senator. Despite musician and Michigan native

Kid Rock Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock, is an American musician, singer, rapper, and songwriter. After establishing himself in the Music of Detroit#Hip-hop, Detroit hip-hop scene, he broke through into m ...

publicly toying with the idea of running for the seat for months, the primary came down to James and

Grosse Pointe Grosse Pointe is a group of five adjacent suburbs in the Metro Detroit, Detroit metropolitan area on the shore of Lake St. Clair. From southwest to northeast, they are: *Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, Grosse Pointe Park *Grosse Pointe, Michiga ...

businessman and former Wayne County commissioner Sandy Pensler. James was endorsed via

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

on July 27, 2018, eleven days before the primary. James won the nomination with 55% of the vote. On November 6, 2018, Stabenow defeated James, 52.3% to 45.8%.

Potential United Nations ambassadorship

In late November 2018,

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...

reported that Trump was considering nominating James to become the

United States Ambassador to the United Nations The United States ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the U.S. delegation, the United States Mission to the United Nations, U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The position is formally known as the Permanent representative to the U ...

, to replace Ambassador

Nikki Haley Nimarata Nikki Randhawa Haley (''née'' Randhawa; born January 20, 1972) is an American politician and diplomat who served as the 116th governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 and as the 29th U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from Ja ...

, who previously announced that she was planning to leave the Trump administration by the end of 2018. James reportedly met at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

with Trump,

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

, and Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American retired politician who served in the First presidency of Donald Trump#Administration, first administration of Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) fr ...

. He was ultimately bypassed for the position. Trump announced he would appoint

Heather Nauert Heather Anne Nauert (born January 27, 1970) is an American broadcast journalist and former government official who served as Spokesperson for the United States Department of State in the Donald Trump administration from 2017 to 2019. Nauert ...

, the

spokesperson for the United States Department of State The Spokesperson for the United States Department of State is a U.S. government official whose primary responsibility is to serve as the spokesperson for the United States Department of State and the U.S. government's foreign policies. The posi ...

and a former television reporter, to succeed Haley, but Nauert was never nominated and announced in February 2019 that she was withdrawing from consideration. After Nauert's withdrawal, Trump again considered James for the ambassadorship, but eventually nominated

United States ambassador to Canada This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to Canada.U.S. ...

Kelly Knight Craft for the post.

2020 U.S. Senate race

Because the election margin in the 2018 Senate race was smaller than expected, James became a front-runner for the Republican nomination to take on Michigan's other incumbent Democratic senator,

Gary Peters Gary Charles Peters (born December 1, 1958) is an American lawyer, politician, and former military officer serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Michigan, a seat he has hel ...

, in the 2020 election. As well as being recruited to take on Peters, it was reported in June 2019 that the

National Republican Congressional Committee The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is the United States Republican Party, Republican Hill committee which works to elect Republicans to the United States House of Representatives. The NRCC was formed in 1866, when the Repub ...

was recruiting James to challenge freshman Democratic U.S. representative

Haley Stevens Haley Maria Stevens (born June 24, 1983) is an American politician serving her fourth term as the U.S. representative from since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, Stevens represents most of urbanized Oakland County, including many of ...

Michigan's 11th congressional district Michigan's 11th congressional district is a United States congressional district north of Detroit, comprising most of urbanized central Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County. Until 1993, the district covered the state's Upper Peninsula of Mi ...

. On June 6, 2019, James announced that he was seeking the Republican nomination in

to take on Peters. Michigan was one of two states in which an incumbent Democratic senator was seeking reelection during 2020 in a state won by Trump in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, the other being

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. Although the Associated Press called the race for Peters on November 4, 2020, James refused to concede, which Peters termed "pathetic." James initially insisted that the election had not been administered fairly. He established a joint legal fund with the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...

to challenge the results. James claimed there was "ample evidence" for an investigation, but offered none. He raised $2 million after the election as he sought to challenge the election results, and he unsuccessfully attempted to block certification of the results of the election, which he lost to Peters by 1.7% of the vote, which was much closer than originally projected. James conceded on November 24 over social media, congratulating Peters. During his campaign, James pledged to give 5% of his campaign contributions to charity. The James fundraising committee reported about $46.12 million in total contributions for the 2020 election and has given more than $2.36 million to charities following through on his pledge.

U.S House of Representatives

Elections

2022

James won the Republican primary in the 2022 election in

. He defeated Democrat

Carl Marlinga The 2024 United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan were held on November 5, 2024, to elect the 13 United States House of Representatives, U.S. representatives from the U.S. state, state of Michigan, one from each of the st ...

in the November general election.

2024

James won a second term on November 5, 2024, in a rematch against Marlinga, winning 51.1% of the vote.

Committee assignments

As of the

118th Congress The 118th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January ...

, James is a member of the following committees. *

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure The U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. History The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure was formerly known as the Committee on Public Works ...

** Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment (Vice Chair) ** Subcommittee on Aviation * Committee on Foreign Affairs ** Subcommittee on Africa (Chairman) ** Subcommittee for Western Hemisphere *

Committee on Education and the Workforce The Committee on Education and Workforce is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. There are 45 members of this committee. Since 2025, the chair of the Education and Workforce committee is Republican Tim Walberg of ...

** Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development *

Committee on Energy and Commerce A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

Political positions

During his 2018 Senate campaign, James ran on a typical Republican platform, describing himself on his campaign website as "a pro-life, pro-

second amendment The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

, pro-business conservative." He emphasized his desire to defund

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization

and compared ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...

'', the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

decision legalizing abortion, to "

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

." He opposes the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

, does not believe employers should be able to fire workers due to their sexual orientation, and opposes the legalization of recreational marijuana. James says he wants to repeal and replace the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...

(Obamacare), which he has called "a monstrosity." According to ''The Detroit Free Press'', James was careful not to take a position on the Trump administration's lawsuit seeking to immediately strike down the entire ACA as unconstitutional. When pressed in a September 2020 interview, he said he was against the ACA lawsuit without a replacement plan in place, but did not criticize Republicans for pushing the lawsuit. James supported

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...

in the

2016 Republican Party presidential primaries Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place within all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories between February 1 and June 7, 2016. These elections selected the 2,472 delegates that we ...

. He later became a Trump supporter, and

tweeted A tweet (officially known as a post since 2023) is a short status update on the social networking site Twitter (officially known as X since 2023) which can include images, videos, GIFs, straw polls, hashtags, mentions, and hyperlinks. Around ...

in 2018 that, if elected to the Senate, he would back Trump "2,000%." During his 2020 campaign, James accepted Trump's endorsement and campaigned alongside him. James has not been publicly critical of Trump or his actions. During a meeting with black faith leaders, James was asked whether he disagreed with Trump on anything. James said, "Everything from cutting Great Lakes funding to ' shithole countries' to speaking ill of the dead. I mean, where do you want to start?" In a leaked audio recording of a meeting with African American leaders in Michigan, James was asked why he hadn't publicly criticized Trump. He said he thought it was better to be silent in public in order to gain access to Trump. James said, "Donald Trump doesn't need less Black folks around him, he needs more," and that his goal was "achieving equity and equality for our people, not standing up on Twitter and condemning folks." During the campaign, Democrats sought to tie James to Trump, while James has said his candidacy was not a referendum on Trump. During his 2020 campaign, James declined to take specific positions on a number of policy questions, including how the

Social Security Trust Fund The Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund (collectively, the Social Security Trust Fund or Trust Funds) are trust funds that provide for payment of Social Security (Old-Age, Survivors, and ...

would be protected from the impact of a payroll tax cut, whether the Senate should vote to confirm a new

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

justice to fill the vacancy created by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg before or after the 2020 presidential election, and whether he thinks military bases named for Confederate generals should be renamed.

2026 gubernatorial campaign

On April 7, 2025, James announced his candidacy for

in the 2026 election.

Personal life

James married his wife, Elizabeth, in 2012. They have three sons. When James was still dating Elizabeth, he had an encounter with police at a mall in a suburb of Detroit in which the officers drew their guns on him; James believes that if Elizabeth had not been beside him, he might have been killed. He has also expressed his fear of being killed whenever police pull him over for a

traffic stop A traffic stop, colloquially referred to as being pulled over, is a temporary Detention (imprisonment), detention of a driver of a vehicle and its occupants by police to Criminal investigation, investigate a possible crime or minor violation o ...

. James is a

nondenominational Christian Non-denominational Christianity (or nondenominational Christianity) consists of churches, and individual Christians, which typically distance themselves from the confessionalism or creedalism of other Christian communities by not formally aligni ...

. He lives in

Shelby Township, Michigan Shelby is a civil township of Oceana County, Michigan, Oceana County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,109 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the township ha ...

Electoral history

References

External links

Congressman John James
official U.S. House website
Campaign website

James Group International
* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:James, John 1981 births 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American businesspeople African-American business executives African-American Christians African-American members of the United States House of Representatives African-American military personnel African-American people in Michigan politics American chief executives Black conservatism in the United States Brother Rice High School (Michigan) alumni Businesspeople from Michigan Candidates in the 2018 United States Senate elections Candidates in the 2020 United States Senate elections Christians from Michigan Living people Michigan Republicans Military personnel from Michigan People from Farmington Hills, Michigan Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan Ross School of Business alumni Smeal College of Business alumni United States Military Academy alumni University of Michigan alumni African-American candidates for the United States Senate 21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives