MI-10: John James (R)

REPLACING:

Lisa McClain (R)[i]

WORK HISTORY:

James Group International (Director of Operations / Vice President of Operations / President); Renaissance Global Logistics (Chief Executive Officer); US Army (Enlisted / Aviation Officer)[ii] [iii] [iv]

EDUCATION & TRAINING:

Diploma, Catholic Brother Rice High School; BS, US Military Academy at West Point; Qualification, US Army Ranger School; MS, Penn State University – Smeal College of Business; MBA, University of Michigan – Ross School of Business[v] [vi] [vii] [viii]

CAMPAIGNED ON:

Health Care; Economy; Elections; Social Justice; Environment & Energy; Immigration[ix]

ON THE ISSUES

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS:

James has said abortion laws should be made at the state level, and that he would always vote “to save the most number of lives both before and after birth.”[x] Previously, James has supported defunding Planned Parenthood and restricting access to abortion, including in cases of rape and incest.[xi] He has also compared abortion to genocide and supported the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.[xii]

ECONOMY, JOBS & TAXES:

James, who frequently touts his business experience, has said Michigan’s economy will depend on “investments in workforce development, access to affordable healthcare, a strong semiconductor supply chain and a secure energy future.” He believes career politicians and special interests have put the “American Dream” at risk by imposing burdensome tax policies, increasing federal spending, implementing costly and unnecessary regulations, and passing unfair trade agreements.[xiii] James has expressed concern for Michigan due to the shift to electric vehicles, saying, “There’s no plan to take care of the suppliers, the metal fabricators, the CNC machinist, the folks who rely so heavily on the automotive industry here.”[xiv] Notably, during his 2020 Senate campaign, James pushed for a four-day, ten-hour a day work week where employees used their time outside of work to learn a trade or develop higher skills.[xv]

HEALTHCARE & SOCIAL SAFETY NET:

James has said “we need to repatriate our health care industry and resist efforts to give any one entity sole control of healthcare,” adding, “We need a patient-centered market-based approach which provides affordable, quality health care and must protect people with pre-existing conditions.”[xvi] He once labeled the ACA a “monstrosity,” but has since called for reforming only the parts of the law that “increase the cost of health care, give too many decisions to the government, and offer patients too few options.”[xvii] [xviii] He also advocates for expanding preventative care and providing more wellness coverage in health insurance plans.[xix] James has said Social Security and Medicare must be protected from those who would “raid and/or underfund” them.[xx] However, he has also called for entitlement reform, stating, “Dependency should not be the destiny of any American.”[xxi] He has opposed efforts to eliminate employer-provided healthcare in exchange for a single-payer system.[xxii]

IMMIGRATION & BORDER SECURITY:

James supports policies that promote legal immigration but also has stressed the need for border security. He has criticized Congress for failing to put forward “any immigration system that works to keep this country safe from both an economic security and national security standpoint.”[xxiii] During his 2020 Senate campaign, James supported defunding sanctuary cities and endorsed Kate’s Law, which would enhance penalties for convicted and deported criminals who reenter the US illegally.[xxiv] [xxv] He supported President Trump’s 2018 lawsuit against California over the state’s sanctuary cities policy.[xxvi]

CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY:

As a Senate candidate in 2020, James emphasized his support for police but called for a “solution” to police violence. He said, “We must have public safety, we must have order, but we also must have a solution for Black men who are getting shot in their streets and Black women who are getting shot in their living rooms and bedrooms. That’s a fact.”[xxvii] He has opposed efforts to divert funding for law enforcement to social services and instead has advocated for increasing police budgets for officer training, transparency efforts, community policing, and hiring officers from within the communities they serve.[xxviii] James argues that we can support police officers while at the same time “making sure we end killing innocent, unarmed people.”[xxix]

GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS & ELECTION SECURITY:

James has said, “Every registered voter should have the right to vote in secure elections where every legal vote is counted.”[xxx]

EDUCATION:

James believes a person’s education should not be determined by his or her zip code and wants parents to have more choices for their children’s education – whether they attend public, private, or charter schools.[xxxi] He has criticized the teaching of “critical race theory” to young children, saying, “We are not going to fix past, present or future by planting shame, guilt, victimhood and disunity amongst children.”[xxxii] He criticized the Biden administration for spending “trillions” on student loan forgiveness while cutting pay for soldiers who “couldn’t afford to go to college.”[xxxiii]

CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT:

James supports an “all of the above” energy strategy that promotes domestic energy production, adding that “we must…incentivize private sector innovation, invest in our energy infrastructure and harden utility grids.” He believes we need to be “good caretakers of our environment” and “protect our natural resources from contaminants like PFAs.”[xxxiv] While campaigning for the US Senate in 2020, James supported removing regulations that make it harder for farmers and small businesses to operate and said he would join the Climate Solutions Caucus “to seek creative, practical solutions.”[xxxv] He opposes the Green New Deal.[xxxvi]

BIG TECH & DATA PRIVACY:

James claims Twitter has repeatedly attempted to silence conservatives, adding, “We cannot let Silicon Valley and the liberal coastal elite silence us.”[xxxvii]

GUN SAFETY:

James supports Second Amendment rights and has been endorsed by the NRA, which gave him an “AQ” rating in 2022.[xxxviii] He has said, “We absolutely have to keep our promise to keep our community safer, to keep our children safe,” before adding, “But also we have to keep our promise to uphold the Bill of Rights in our Constitution.”[xxxix] While James has previously expressed openness to discussing universal background checks, he has not committed to supporting any specific gun safety legislation. Notably, James was endorsed by the NRA during his 2018 campaign for US Senate allegedly in part because of his opposition to universal background checks.[xl]

FOREIGN POLICY:

James believes the Biden administration and the Pentagon may be minimizing the possibility of China invading Taiwan in the coming years.[xli] He has said we need to “repatriate the American Dream from overseas,” noting that “the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the danger of America’s supply chain being reliant upon other nations, notably communist China, for the critical goods and services we need.”[xlii] He has criticized taxpayer subsidies for electric vehicles, saying, “We are building the Chinese middle class on the backs of ours.”[xliii] In March 2022, James argued that if China refused to condemn Russian aggression and “cut him off completely,” then China’s rulers “should be held just as accountable as the Russian oligarchs.”[xliv] He believes Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine now because President Biden is “weak” and the US is dependent on foreign sources of energy.[xlv] He has also criticized the billions of dollars in aid the US has given to Ukraine “with no accountability.”[xlvi]