| John James | |
|---|---|
| |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 8, 1981 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth James |
| Children | 3 |
| Website | Campaign website |
John Edward James (born June 8, 1981) is an American businessman, combat veteran, and Republican politician. James was born in Detroit, Michigan, and at age 17, James enrolled in the United States Military Academy. Upon graduating in 2004, he served for eight years in the United States Army. After he was discharged, James worked on his family business and received master's degrees at Pennsylvania State University and the University of Michigan.
He was the Republican candidate for the 2018 United States Senate election in Michigan but lost to the incumbent, Debbie Stabenow. James is a candidate for the Senate in the 2020 election in Michigan.
Education and military service[]
At age 17, James enrolled in the United States Military Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 2004 and became an Army Ranger-qualified aviator.[1] He served for eight years in the United States Army, participating in multiple tours of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he was an Apache pilot.[2][3]
James received a Master of Supply Chain Management and Information Systems degree from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Michigan.[1]
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 management service company; James became its director of operations and eventually became president of JGI and CEO of Renaissance Global Logistics.[4]
James was named one of the Detroit Business Journal 30 in their 30s of 2012 and Michigan Chronicle 40 under 40 of 2014.[5] He serves as a board member of the Michigan Council for Future Mobility, Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council, National Veteran Business Development Council and Detroit Workforce Development Board.[6]
Politics[]
2018 Senate race[]
In September 2017, James entered the Republican primary for 2018 United States Senate election in Michigan[7] in an attempt to unseat three-term incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow as well as become Michigan's first African-American senator. Despite musician and Michigan native Kid Rock publicly toying with the idea of running for the seat for months, the primary came down to James and Grosse Pointe businessman Sandy Pensler.[8] James was endorsed via Twitter by President Donald Trump on July 27, 2018, eleven days before the GOP primary.[9] James won the GOP nomination with 55 percent of the vote.[10]
On November 6, 2018, James was defeated by incumbent Debbie Stabenow by a margin of 6.50%.[11]
Prospective UN ambassadorship[]
In late November 2018, Bloomberg News reported that President Trump was considering nominating James to become the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, to replace Ambassador Nikki Haley, who previously announced that she was planning on leaving the Trump administration by the end of 2018. James reportedly met at the White House with Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.[12] James was ultimately bypassed for the position, as Trump announced on December 7, 2018, that he would nominate Heather Nauert, the Spokesperson for the United States Department of State and a former TV reporter to succeed Haley.[13] Nauert was never formally nominated for the role by President Trump and announced on February 16, 2019, that she was removing her name from consideration.[14]
Following this, James was reported again to be a candidate for the ambassadorship, with news reports indicating that President Trump was "...very impressed by him ... and sees [James] as a rising star."[15] Trump eventually announced that he would nominate United States Ambassador to Canada Kelly Knight Craft for the post.[16][17]
2020 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, in the 2020 election.[18][19] In June 2019, it was reported that in addition to being recruited to take on Peters, the National Republican Congressional Committee was recruiting James to challenge freshman Democratic U.S. Representative Haley Stevens in Michigan's 11th congressional district.[20]
On June 6, 2019, James announced that he was seeking the GOP nomination in 2020 to take on Peters.[21] Michigan is one of two states where an incumbent Democratic senator will be seeking re-election in 2020 in a state won by Trump in 2016.[22]
Electoral history[]
| 2018 United States Senate election in Michigan (Republican primary) [23] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Republican | John James | 518,564 | 54.7 | |
| Republican | Sandy Pensler | 429,885 | 45.3 | |
| Republican | William White (write-in) | 57 | .01 | |
| 2018 United States Senate election in Michigan[11] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Democratic | Debbie Stabenow (incumbent) | 2,214,478 | 52.26 | -6.54% | |
| Republican | John James | 1,938,818 | 45.76 | +7.78% | |
| Green | Marcia Squier | 40,204 | 0.95 | +0.35 | |
| Taxpayers | George Huffman III | 27,251 | 0.64 | +0.08 | |
| Natural Law | John Howard Wilhelm | 16,502 | 0.39 | +0.15 | |
| Write-in | Total write-in | 18 | 0.00043 | -0.0014 | |
| Majority | 275,660 | 6.5% | -14.32 | ||
| Turnout | 4,237,231 | 100.0% | -8.9 | ||
| Democratic hold | |||||
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "A Life Devoted to Service Before Self". 5 June 2019. https://johnjamesforsenate.com/meet-john-james/. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
- ↑ King, R.J.; Schultz, John S.; Beaman, Tom; Keenan, Tim; Calabrese, Dan (October 8, 2012). "30 in Their Thirties 2012". Detroit Business Journal. http://www.dbusiness.com/September-October-2012/30-in-Their-Thirties/#.W8-vVhNKi8U.
- ↑ Fink, Jenni (October 9, 2018). "Trump Jr. Embodies Party of Privilege, Activist Says, But Michigan GOP Senate Candidate Says His Ancestors Were Slaves". Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/trump-jr-embodies-party-privilege-activist-says-michigan-gop-senate-candidate-1160709.
- ↑ James Group International (n.d.). "Leadership". James Group International. http://jamesgroupintl.com/leadership/.
- ↑ Wheeler, Tatiana (October 1, 2014). "Congratulations to Our Class of 2014 40 Under 40!". Michigan Chronicle. https://michronicleonline.com/2014/10/01/congratulations-to-our-class-of-2014-40-under-40/.
- ↑ McKinney, Jeffrey (June 7, 2017). "Is This BE 100s Executive Michigan's Next Republican Senator?". Black Enterprise. https://www.blackenterprise.com/be-100s-executive-michigans-next-republican-senator/.
- ↑ Spangler, Todd (September 21, 2017). "Metro Detroit Businessman John James Joins U.S. Senate Race". Detroit Free Press. https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/09/21/john-james-u-s-senate-debbie-stabenow/689425001/.
- ↑ Oosting, Jonathan; Nann Burke, Melissa (November 20, 2017). "Pensler Joins U.S. Senate Race to Take on Stabenow". The Detroit News. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2017/11/20/sandy-pensler-senate-campaign/107860320/.
- ↑ Gibbons, Lauren (July 27, 2018). "Donald Trump Endorses John James in Michigan's U.S. Senate Race". MLive. https://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/07/donald_trump_endorses_john_jam.html.
- ↑ Bureau of Elections (September 27, 2018). "2018 Michigan Election Results". Michigan Department of State. https://mielections.us/election/results/2018PRI_CENR.html#05000000.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Bureau of Elections (November 26, 2018). "2018 Michigan Election Results". Michigan Department of State. https://mielections.us/election/results/2018GEN_CENR.html#05000000.
- ↑ Jacobs, Jennifer (November 26, 2018). "Trump Considering Ex-Michigan Senate Candidate for UN Ambassador, Sources Say". Bloomberg news. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-26/trump-is-said-to-consider-michigan-senate-candidate-for-un-post.
- ↑ Johnson, Eliana; Toosi, Nahal; Orr, Gabby; Strauss, Daniel (December 7, 2018). "Trump Picks State Department Spokeswoman for top UN Post". Politico. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/06/trump-next-un-ambassador-search-nikki-haley-1048194. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
- ↑ Shesgreen, Deirdre (February 16, 2019). "Heather Nauert, President Trump's choice for UN ambassador job, withdraws in surprise move". USA Today. https://www.freep.com/story/news/2019/02/16/president-trumps-choice-u-n-ambassador-heather-nauert-withdraws-needed-high-profile-position/2894857002/. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
- ↑ "Michigan's John James in running for UN ambassador, reports say". Detroit Free Press. February 19, 2019. https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/19/john-james-united-nations-ambassador/2913257002/. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
- ↑ Rucker, Philip; Gearan, Anne (February 22, 2019). "Trump announces nomination of Kelly Knight Craft to be ambassador to United Nations". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-announces-nomination-of-kelly-craft-as-us-ambassador-to-united-nations/2019/02/22/7ec4022a-36f6-11e9-854a-7a14d7fec96a_story.html.
- ↑ realDonaldTrump (February 22, 2019). "I am pleased to announce that Kelly Knight Craft, our current Ambassador to Canada, is being nominated to be United States Ambassador to the United Nations....". https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1099082125523992576.
- ↑ Fleming, Leonard N. (November 12, 2018). "GOP Sees Bright Future for James After Close Senate Race". The Detroit News. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2018/11/12/gop-bright-future-james-debbie-stabenow-race/1930266002/.
- ↑ "Michigan Republicans hopeful in John James' political future after U.S. Senate loss" (in en-US). https://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/12/john_james_political_future.html.
- ↑ Barrett, Malachi (June 5, 2019). "Republicans want John James to run again, help Trump win Michigan". MLive. https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2019/06/republicans-want-john-james-to-run-again-help-trump-win-michigan.html. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
- ↑ Burke, Melissa Nann; Oosting, Jonathan (June 5, 2019). "John James announces second run for U.S. Senate in Michigan". The Detroit News. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/06/05/john-james-site-senate-run/1357289001/. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
- ↑ Bowman, Bridget; Pathé, Simone; Akin, Stephanie (November 4, 2019). "The 10 most vulnerable senators in 2020: Republicans play defense". https://www.rollcall.com/news/10-vulnerable-senators-2020-republicans-play-defense.
- ↑ Bureau of Elections (August 7, 2018). "Michigan Primary results". 2018 Michigan Primary Election Results. Michigan Department of State. https://mielections.us/election/results/2018PRI_CENR.html#05000000.
Further reading[]
- Cavitt, Mark (August 7, 2018). "Republican John James Will Face U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow in General Election". The Oakland Press. Pontiac, MI. https://www.theoaklandpress.com/news/state/republican-john-james-will-face-u-s-senator-debbie-stabenow/article_9f777678-9a84-11e8-837f-0f2127358976.html.
- Cleveland, Margot (August 8, 2018). "Michigan’s Underdog Senate Primary Winner John James Offers a Bright Future for Voters and Republicans". The Federalist. http://thefederalist.com/2018/08/08/michigans-underdog-senate-primary-winner-john-james-offers-bright-future-voters-republicans/.
- Fleming, Leonard M. (July 22, 2018). "James Doesn't Stress Race in Senate Bid, but Could Become Black GOP Pioneer". The Detroit News. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/23/john-james-senate-michigan-black-republican/781038002/.
- "One-on-One with Republican Senatorial Candidate John James". Detroit: WXYZ-TV. July 23, 2018. https://www.wxyz.com/news/one-on-one-with-republican-senatorial-candidate-john-james.
- Singman, Brooke (August 8, 2018). "Trump Calls John James 'Future Star' of GOP after Michigan Senate Primary Win". Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08/08/trump-calls-john-james-future-star-gop-after-michigan-senate-primary-win.html.
- Spangler, Todd (August 7, 2018). "James Wins Republican Nod to Face U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow". Detroit Free Press. https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/08/07/election-results-john-james-sandy-pensler-gop-senate/897989002/.
External links[]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Category:John James (Michigan politician). |
The original article can be found at John E. James and the edit history here.