John James Runs for Another Office

He's run for U.S. Senator and Congressman each twice. Now, he wants to be governor.

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DETROIT – As overused as the word is, U.S. Rep. John James really is a unique phenomenon in Michigan politics. He’s the only African-American Republican the state has ever sent to Congress.

He’s an almost 44-year-old successful businessman, former U.S. Army Ranger and Apache helicopter pilot, and veteran of two closer-than-expected losing campaigns for the U.S. Senate.

Now, after two terms in the House, he has decided he wants to be elected governor next year. That means that after November 3, 2026, he will either be the most successful Black politician in Michigan history, or see his political career at an end.

Last week, he told the Gongwer News Service that he wasn’t running for yet another office because of ego, but because he was the “only one (Republican) who can win,” the general election, that “the mission has always been Michigan,” and borrowing a basketball analogy, added “I am in the best position to take the shot.”

He might be right, but it won’t be easy.

The field of contenders is already getting crowded, 15 months before the August Republican primary.

State Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt was the first to announce, followed by former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who lost the primary for governor in 2010, and said he has already thrown $1 million of his own money into this campaign.

Others may also join the race, including Tudor Dixon, the party’s 2022 nominee, who lost badly. A crowded field may, however, help James, since he likely has the strongest name recognition. (Michigan doesn’t have runoffs; whoever gets the most votes is the nominee, no matter the percentage.)

That remains to be seen, however, and Mr. James has managed to often exceed political expectations, except once -- when his career almost came to an end. He burst on the scene in 2018, when he won the GOP nomination to run against then-U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, with the help of an endorsement from President Trump.

Frankly, the young newcomer didn’t have much competition because Michigan Republicans regarded the race as unwinnable.

Stabenow had defeated her previous opponent, then-Congressman Pete Hoekstra, now the U.S. ambassador to Canada, by almost a million votes, and 2018 was clearly going to be a Democratic year. John James indeed lost, but both sides were stunned when the margin was less than seven points, and he ran well ahead of other, better known GOP nominees.

Two years later, in 2020, he tried again against incumbent Gary Peters. That time he lost a cliffhanger, by less than two percent of the vote, but ran ahead of President Trump in the state. When a seat in Macomb County became open in 2022, James went for it.

This time, the tables were turned. Both parties expecte James to win easily; he spent millions, and national Democrats refused to fund his opponent, an elderly retired judge and prosecutor.

But to everyone’s shock, John James won by less than half a percentage point. When another U.S. Senate seat opened up in 2024, the Detroit News, the state’s leading conservative voice, sternly warned him not to run, and instead focus on the job he finally had. He then won a second term in the house by a relatively easy 51-45 percent tally, aided by a Trump landslide in the district.

Michigan has never had an African-American governor; the only previous nominee, a former Wayne County executive, lost by more than two to one in 1986. Nor is it clear what James’ chances in a general election would be, for a number of reasons, chief among them being Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s surprise decision to run for governor as an independent next year.

Duggan has been a moderate Democrat, but has had heavy backing, financial and otherwise from business leaders who might normally have supported James but have been awed by Duggan’s success at turning Detroit around.

What almost certainly won’t happen is an outpouring of African-American support for James. While some Blacks may back Detroit’s mayor, most are likely to vote for the likely Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

Some surveys found James getting no more than five percent of the Black vote in his earlier races.

Additionally, there’s another factor most analysts are reluctant to mention. Whether its justified or not, Many women in the African-American community are not thrilled, when successful Black men marry white women, as the congressman has done.

Regardless of how next year’s election turns out, John James, who was a complete unknown eight years ago, has now been nominated twice for the U.S. Senate, been elected twice to a seat in Congress, and is now a leading candidate for governor.

I can’t think of any other politician who compiled such a record of serious efforts to win so many high offices in so short a time.

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