John James (Michigan politician)

James was born in Southfield, Michigan, in 1981 and grew up Baptist[4] in the Palmer Woods neighborhood of Detroit.[5] He graduated from the Catholic Brother Rice High School in 1999.[6] He graduated from the United States Military Academy (West Point) in 2004,[6][7] and served eight years in the Army, participating in multiple tours of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom as an AH-64 Apache pilot.[8][9] Two of his West Point classmates are fellow Congressmen Wesley Hunt and Pat Ryan.[10] He attended the Ranger School and became Ranger-tabbed as a Captain.[11][12] As Ranger School is a leadership course, it does not make a graduate a Ranger.

James received a master's degree in supply chain management from Penn State University's Smeal College of Business[8] and an MBA from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.[5]

In 2012, James joined James Group International, where his father, John A. James, was the CEO.[13] James Group is a global supply chain 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.[14][7] Renaissance Global, based in Detroit, was the recipient of a $1–2 million Paycheck Protection Program loan during the COVID-19 pandemic.[15]

James was named one of Detroit Business Journal's 30 in their 30s of 2012, and Michigan Chronicle's 40 under 40 of 2014.[16] 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.[17]

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, pro-business conservative."[43] He emphasized his desire to defund Planned Parenthood[43] and compared Roe v. Wade, the United States Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, to "genocide."[44] He opposes the death penalty, does not believe employers should be able to fire workers due to their sexual orientation, and opposes the legalization of recreational marijuana.[45]

James says he wants to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which he has called "a monstrosity."[46] 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.[47] 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.[48]

James supported Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries.[45] He later became a Trump supporter,[45] and tweeted in 2018 that, if elected to the Senate, he would back Trump "2,000%."[49][50] During his 2020 campaign, James accepted Trump's endorsement and campaigned alongside him.[51][52] James has not been publicly critical of Trump or his actions.[47] 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?"[53] 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."[54] During the campaign, Democrats sought to tie James to Trump, while James has said his candidacy was not a referendum on Trump.[43]

During his 2020 campaign, James declined to take specific positions on a number of policy questions, including how the Social Security Trust Fund would be protected from the impact of a payroll tax cut, whether the Senate should vote to confirm a new Supreme Court 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.[47][55][56]

James married his wife, Elizabeth, in 2012.[57] They have three sons.[58] 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.[59]

James is a nondenominational Christian.[4]

• Congressman John James official U.S. House website
• Campaign website
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart
• James Group International
• Appearances on C-SPAN

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