John James in 2020 MI Senatorial race
On Drugs:
Respect will of voters & legalize recreational marijuana
Q: Decriminalize or legalize?John James: No. Said would vote no on 2018 state proposal to legalize recreational marijuana but would "respect the will of the voters."
Gary Peters: Yes. Says "when it is legalized, it is regulated and it is taxed and it helps with paying for public services like public education ."
Source: CampusElect on 2020 Michigan Senate race
Oct 10, 2020
On Families & Children:
Allow more flexible options for senior housing
Q: Your Medicare policy?A: Medicaid currently does not allow states and seniors to redirect nursing home dollars toward programs like stay-at-home care. The COVID crisis has shown that shared environments and shared surfaces can be harmful
for people with preexisting conditions and our seniors. Congress must pass reforms to allow seniors to have more flexible options when it comes to housing.
Source: AARP Survey on 2020 Michigan Senate race
Oct 9, 2020
On Health Care:
Fix the parts that give too many decisions to the government
I want to reform the parts of the Affordable Care Act that increase the cost of healthcare. We need to fix the parts that give too many decisions to the government and offer patients too few options. Michiganders have a right to own their own
healthcare. We need to have a market-based, patient-centered approach that must cover people with preexisting conditions. Whatever plan I support must include tort and regulatory reform in a manner that lowers cost while increasing quality of care.
Source: AARP Survey on 2020 Michigan Senate race
Oct 9, 2020
On Health Care:
Politicians stuff their pockets with drug company money
Q: Your prescription drug policy?James: I will hold drug companies accountable for their prices. I won't just deliver the tough talk.
I will deliver results for Michigan families that need prescription drugs and suffer because most D.C. politicians are more concerned with stuffing their pockets and their bank accounts with profits from drug companies.
Source: AARP Survey on 2020 Michigan Senate race
Oct 9, 2020
On Social Security:
Stop any attempt to underfund the Social Security trust fund
After a lifetime of hard work, we must protect Social Security and Medicare from career politicians who will raid today what they promised yesterday. We must stop any attempt to underfund the Social Security trust fund, and we cannot cut our senior
citizens' benefits. But beyond that, we must strengthen that safety net and make sure the next generation is not getting tangled in the messes left behind by career politicians who are more willing to look out for themselves than look out for us.
Source: AARP Survey on 2020 Michigan Senate race
Oct 9, 2020
On Technology:
Broadband access to everyone, not just big cities
James: We must also ensure broadband and internet access is available to those in rural areas.
New opportunities to work from home and new technology to virtually visit family members require high internet speed. We must expand access to everyone in Michigan--rural areas, not just big cities.
Source: AARP Survey on 2020 Michigan Senate race
Oct 9, 2020
On Crime:
Against defunding police, for community policing
James doesn't go nearly so far as to advocate for defunding the police, an idea he dismisses as "'stupid'--that's as plainly as I can put it." Instead, he argues in favor of community policing along with increased accountability for law
enforcement officials. "I'm looking forward to having the opportunity representing my state, taking those next steps not just to end police brutality," he told JI, "but also to end the elements of racism that have plagued African Americans since 1619."
Source: The Jewish Insider on 2020 Michigan Senate race
Jun 29, 2020
On Foreign Policy:
For Trump's Middle East peace proposal, two state solution
James endorsed Trump's Middle East peace proposal, describing the plan as a "solid step in the right direction." "But supporting a two-state solution is something that requires two willing partners," he added. "One of the biggest barriers that we
continue to see is that Israel continues to be a willing partner, but the Palestinian Authority fails to demonstrate a willingness for a peaceful two-state solution, and they've rejected peace proposals time after time."
Source: The Jewish Insider on 2020 Michigan Senate race
Jun 29, 2020
On War & Peace:
The Iranian regime has blood on its hands
He was against the Iran nuclear deal and believes that Trump made the right move by pulling out. "I would have opposed the Iran deal point blank," said James, who also backed Trump's decision to assassinate Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani in early
January. "The Iranian regime has blood on its hands.""Radical extremist governments like Iran's must not be allowed to become nuclear powers," James elaborates in a position paper his campaign provided.
Source: The Jewish Insider on 2020 Michigan Senate race
Jun 29, 2020
On Education:
We have failed our children, supports school choice
On school choice: "Our No. 1 economic threat, national-security threat, and civil-rights threat is the educational system in this country,"
he says. "We have failed our children for generations." He supports school choice and sits on the board of the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, a public charter school in Detroit.
Source: National Review on 2020 Michigan Senate race
May 14, 2020
On Energy & Oil:
Green New Deal would decimate Michigan's economy
On energy: "The Green New Deal
would absolutely decimate Michigan's economy," he says.
Source: National Review on 2020 Michigan Senate race
May 14, 2020
On Free Trade:
Fight China over soybeans now, or bullets later
James says that trade disputes have hurt his company's revenues, but he backs the president's approach. USMCA--the North American trade agreement approved by Congress in January--is "not a perfect deal, but it's much better than what we had."
He also thinks the time has come to confront China over its trade policies as well as its provocations in the South China Sea. "If we don't fight this conflict with soybeans now, we'll fight it with bullets later."
Source: National Review on 2020 Michigan Senate race
May 14, 2020
On Health Care:
Medicare for All terrible; barely paying for Medicare now
On healthcare: "Medicare for All is a terrible idea. We can barely pay for Medicare for some." He warns about how a government takeover would rattle the lives of
Michigan's union workers: "They have probably the best health care in the world, duly negotiated--and making private health care illegal would take that away."
Source: National Review on 2020 Michigan Senate race
May 14, 2020
On Principles & Values:
From slave to senate candidate in four generations
John Edward James, who turns 39 in June, is a rare political type: an African-American Republican. His great-great-grandfather was born a slave in Mississippi, and he likes to chronicle a brief family history: "In four generations, we've
gone from a slave to a sharecropper to a mason to a truck driver and now potentially to a senator. That is absolutely remarkable, not just for our family but for our country."
Source: National Review on 2020 Michigan Senate race
May 14, 2020
On Principles & Values:
Liberal violence is construed as speech
He warns about risks to free speech: "Liberal violence is construed as speech,
and conservative speech is construed as violence."
Source: National Review on 2020 Michigan Senate race
May 14, 2020
On Budget & Economy:
Liberal leftist socialist policies have failed in Michigan
On socialism: "You don't need to go to Venezuela to see where liberal leftist socialist policies have failed their people, you can just come to Michigan and see where we're failing our neighborhoods, where we're forgetting our farms,
and where we need to make sure that we have situations that we don't have policies of envy and confiscation but we have policies that increase access and opportunity for all people," said James.
Source: Fox News on 2020 Michigan Senate race
Mar 2, 2020
Page last updated: Dec 07, 2020