HAMMER TIME
- Downtown Newsmagazine
- Jul 21
- 2 min read
One gubernatorial candidate who is getting more heavily swatted than a fly in summer is U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Township, Rochester, Rochester Hills, much of Macomb County), with numerous Republicans calling on him to drop his campaign and return to holding his congressional seat. In June, President Donald Trump told him he wasn’t happy with him leaving his seat – which has the potential to be flipped – and reportedly Trump and other top Republicans had told him not to run for governor. But James, who has run for something every cycle since 2018, finally winning his current job in 2022, is ravenous for more. At a bill signing in June, Trump took a dig at the congressman for leaving the seat vulnerable. “John James. I don’t know. You know, he’s running for governor, but I’m not sure I’m happy about that, John,” Trump said. Now Mike Rogers, running to be the Republican candidate for Senate, said James “would get a lot of support” if he “didn’t run for governor.” Fellow Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Cox has called James “Job Jumping John James,” and Republican Senate Leader Aric Nesbitt, also running for governor, said a “lot of folks were disappointed” with James due to “how much work they did to get the Congressman elected to Congress.” Even last cycle’s Republican nominee, Tudor Dixon, who announced she’s not running in 2026 for governor or senate, said, “The idea of having people step out of the House to run for other offices and then ultimately Donald Trump doesn’t actually get those last two years… will be a nightmare.” While we are at it, word is now solid that Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard’s son Michael Bouchard, Jr., is a definite go to run as a Republican for James’ 10th Congressional seat.
