Among the photos on the wall at John James' campaign office in Sterling Heights is an image of him alongside President Donald Trump at a signing ceremony to block California from banning gas-powered vehicle sales. But on the campaign trail, James has tried to put some distance between himself and the president.
The congressman's Democratic rival in the Michigan governor's race, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, has spent much of her campaign tying James to Trump as she rails against gas prices that have surged during Trump's war in Iran and labels the president's tariffs on Canadian goods the "John James Tax."
As Benson and Democrats cast the upcoming election as an anti-Trump referendum, James, 45, has argued that he will put Michigan's interests
before the man in the White House.
While he boasted about having the president's endorsement during the GOP primary, in an interview after his August win James recognized not everyone is a fan of the president, including members of his family.
"Donald Trump isn't their favorite person and that's what a lot of people are feeling," James said. "'They're like, hey John, I trust you, I know you, I like you. You're saying things that mean something to me. But you know, President Trump, I can't get that.' And so ultimately it's like, 'Hey, look. President Trump's his own man and I'm my own man.'"
Voters see that, he said, pointing to the higher vote share he received compared to Trump in 2020 as proof, even as he continues to cast doubt on both of their losses that year.
James and his running mate state Rep. Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Township – a fierce Benson critic – have described Benson as an incompetent secretary of state. And as he faces questions about his own party's leader, James has tried to hold up a mirror to the Democratic Party.
He has cast the upcoming election in dire terms, saying socialism is on the ballot as the United States faces a fundamental threat to freedom and pitched himself as a bulwark against extremism. In the same way that Benson has linked James to Trump, James has tied her to Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, the populist firebrand running against former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers to represent Michigan in the U.S. Senate. He blasts the "Benson-El-Sayed ticket" as "radical" and repeatedly argues that voters face a choice between "common sense" and "crazy."
James may boast an impressive resume. "He has an incredible record of military service. Family business acumen," said Andrea Bitely, founder and principal at Bitely Communications, who previously served as chief communications officer for former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan's since-ended independent campaign for governor.
But James has a problem, she said. He has an "R" attached to his name in a cycle when Republicans face headwinds nationally because of Trump.
John Sellek, the CEO of the Lansing-based Harbor Strategic Public Affairs who has worked on multiple Republican campaigns, said James has run a "solid" campaign but faces a tough political climate.
"So I think he's done everything his campaign could do and if President Trump's economic calamity, basically, and his numbers weren't so bad, we'd be looking at more like a 50-50 race based on what James has done," he said.
James' path to office
James was a sophomore at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in his economics class during the 9/11 terrorist attack, which quieted the stunned students until their professor broke the silence. "'Gentlemen, we're going to war,'" James recalled during a 25th anniversary event in Detroit.
James went on to fight in the Iraq War, leading U.S. Army attack helicopters in combat.
After he came home, he said he stumbled across the profile for his now-wife Liz on Match.com. The photos of her catching a fish and riding a boat caught his attention. Campaign ads show the pair with their three sons (ages 6, 9 and 11) playing football and hoisting an American flag with a voiceover of the Pledge of Allegiance.
In addition to his military experience, James served as a leader of James Group, his family's logistics company in Detroit that serves the auto industry. In his run for governor, he has touted his business experience as giving him insight into how to create jobs in Michigan.
"And I think that before becoming the CEO of the state, you probably should have run a business before," James said during a Detroit Economic Club candidate forum in September.
In 2018, James launched his first statewide bid for U.S. Senate with a campaign challenging incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow. He came closer to winning a seat in the chamber in his 2020 bid against Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Peters but lost by less than two percentage points.
James notched his first victory in 2022 when he won an open race for Michigan's newly drawn 10th Congressional District encompassing Macomb and Oakland county suburbs, narrowly defeating former Macomb County Prosecutor and Circuit Court Judge Carl Marlinga by 1,600 votes (less than 0.5 points). James beat Marlinga again in 2024.
In Congress, James has advocated for funding for Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County and, in early October, he introduced legislation to blunt the economic impact of tariffs stemming from the trade war with Canada.
James' campaign pitch
If elected governor, James wants to phase out the state's income tax with a goal of eliminating it altogether. The tax helps fund schools, Medicaid, prisons and more. It's the marquee proposal in James' pitch to put money back in Michiganders' pockets. James promises no impact on critical state services but he hasn't outlined how exactly he would achieve that.
He also wants to repeal the state's clean energy law, calling it a costly mandate despite proponents' claims that it will lower household electricity bills. His energy affordability plan also calls for raising the limit on the share of an electric utility's sales that can come from alternative suppliers.
James says opting Michigan into a federal education tax credit approved by Trump to pay for education expenses such as private school tuition or tutoring would be a "day one" priority. While blue and red states have made the tax credit available to their residents, James has also waded into the culture wars.
He proposes banning transgender girls from playing on girls' sports teams at school. He wants to refund individuals and businesses fined for COVID-19 violations. His proposed "Parents' Bill of Rights for Michigan" would require schools to provide lesson plans on "sensitive topics like sexuality, gender ideology, or race" and allow parents to opt their child out of "instruction on controversial subjects."
James has faced accusations of trafficking in Islamophobia for appearing on a Newsmax segment called "America's Islamification" and suggesting that Muslims in Dearborn who participated in a religious gathering were extremists. "To equate all Muslims as extremists is racist and bigoted and so are the people who are twisting my words for those purposes," he said during a September interview when asked about his message to Muslims who want to ensure James will represent them in office.
In another Newsmax interview, James identifies a range of challenges facing Michigan. "And meanwhile, Gretchen Whitmer has the time to sign a Pride Month declaration," he said.
James wouldn't commit to continuing Whitmer's tradition of recognizing the month celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. "I would say that the priorities that I would have is going to be a lot less on things that divide us and a lot more that bring us together," he told the Detroit Free Press. "What you do with your own time is up to you. It's between you and God. That is constitutionally protected and I will protect your rights."
James has promised to be a governor for everyone, saying twice during the interview: "I love everyone. I will serve everyone."
Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: John James fights against national mood souring on Trump
