James Ball

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

James Ball

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

May 17, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

Corban University, 2006

Graduate

University of Oregon, 2014

Military

Years of service

2007 - 2015

Personal

Birthplace

Portland, Ore.

Profession

Small business owner

Contact

Personal website

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

James Ball ran for election to the Oregon Metro Council to represent District 4. He lost in the primary on May 17, 2022.

Biography

James Ball was born in Portland, Oregon. He earned his undergraduate degree from Corban University in May 2006 and his graduate degree from the University of Oregon in June 2014. His professional experience includes working as a small business owner. Ball also served in the United States Army from 2007 to 2015.

Elections

2022

See also: Municipal elections in Multnomah County, Oregon (2022)

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Oregon Metro Council District 4

Incumbent Juan Carlos González won election outright against James Ball in the primary for Oregon Metro Council District 4 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Juan Carlos González (Nonpartisan)	63.4	28,109
		James Ball (Nonpartisan)	35.8	15,862
		Other/Write-in votes	0.8	368

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 44,339
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2020

See also: Oregon House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Oregon House of Representatives District 36

Lisa Reynolds defeated James Ball in the general election for Oregon House of Representatives District 36 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Lisa Reynolds (D / Working Families Party)	83.1	34,577
		James Ball (R)	16.8	6,986
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	66

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 41,629
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 36

Lisa Reynolds defeated Laurie Wimmer, Rob Fullmer, and Adam Meyer in the Democratic primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 36 on May 19, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Lisa Reynolds	43.3	7,476
		Laurie Wimmer	35.8	6,177
		Rob Fullmer	13.2	2,288
	Submit photo	Adam Meyer	7.5	1,301
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	35

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 17,277
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 36

James Ball advanced from the Republican primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 36 on May 19, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		James Ball	97.5	1,431
		Other/Write-in votes	2.5	37

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,468
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

James Ball did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

James Ball completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Ball's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm a native Oregonian, born in Portland and graduated from high school in Bend. I have a BS in Math & Computer Science and an MBA with a concentration in Finance. After college I spent 8 years in the Army including three deployments to Afghanistan, two with the 10th Mountain Division out of Ft. Drum, NY and one with the Oregon National Guard. Following my time in the military, I worked as a financial analyst for a Fortune 50 company, spent time as the president of my homeowner's association and I currently own a small home services company in the Portland area. I'm running for office because I see the homelessness crisis first hand on a daily basis. Our current leadership has failed our most vulnerable citizens and I'm tired of our leaders claiming that allowing people to die on the street is somehow the "compassionate" approach.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• The homelessness crisis is out of control and our leaders are doing nothing about it. We currently spend $60,000 per year PER PERSON on homelessness services and yet the problem continues to get worse. More money being poured into a failed system isn't the answer, we need to fix the system.
• High school graduation in the state of Oregon is bottom-five in the nation. Decades of fiscal irresponsibility and misplaced priorities have led us to a place where you can't drink from school water fountains because of lead contamination, school buildings are crumbling and teachers are chronically underpaid while administration costs skyrocket.
• I want to make sure our PERS (Public Employees Retirement System) retirees have full access to their pensions throughout their lifetimes and our current $30B unfunded actuarial liability puts that at risk. I care about our seniors and I want to make sure those living on fixed income have access to all the benefits promised to them. Our current leadership has deliberately chosen to under-fund the PERS portfolio which puts our seniors at risk.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

After 30 years of single-party rule in the state of Oregon, homelessness has increased exponentially, our public schools are among the worst in the nation, fiscal irresponsibility at the State level is threatening the livelihood of our seniors and yet we continue to see bond measures and tax increases to pay for administrative bloat. This is unacceptable. Currently in Oregon, we have a single-party supermajority in both houses and 4 of the 5 statewide offices. This is a problem for all Oregonians, Democrat and Republican alike, because it means that poorly conceived bills are passed into law on a regular basis without proper vetting from a strong minority. For instance, 60% of Oregonians voted "no" on a statewide gross receipts tax (Measure 97). The Oregon Legislature passed one anyway. 70% of Oregonians oppose tolling our freeways but this is another issue being pushed forward by our legislature. An unchecked supermajority is bad for Oregon, regardless of party.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Leadership. As an officer in the Army, I led between 3 and 30 Soldiers at any given time in the US and in Afghanistan. I have a Masters in Business Administration and am a certified Project Management Professional. I spent 4 years on the board of my homeowners association, including one year as president and I am a small business owner who has to manage employees, vendors, a budget and everything else that a small business owner has to manage.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

I was a senior in high school when 9/11 happened. Being on the west coast, it happened at 6:30am but I was awake because our high school youth group met at Shari's Restaurant before school once a month for breakfast. During our breakfast everyone was aware of what was happening but didn't understand the gravity of the situation or how it would impact the rest of our lives. When I arrived at school, nearly every class cancelled its curriculum, wheeled in a TV, and we watched the news. When I got home, footage of the towers falling was all that was on TV and I watched until I had seen the same footage a dozen times.

I think everyone remembers where they were during 9/11, the Kennedy assassination, the Challenger explosion, etc. depending on your stage of life at the time. 9/11 of course was my tragedy and altered my life forever. I've been to Mazar-e-Sharif, the headquarters of the Northern Alliance. I spent a year in Pashtun-majority Kandahar Province where the Taliban gained a foothold in Afghanistan. My friends have lost limbs, I've seen what a Hellfire missile does to a human body, I've shared boiled goat and rice with Afghan elders, I've seen the burnt-out remains of the Darul Aman Palace in Kabul, destroyed by the invading Soviets in the 1970's.

All of those experiences, both good and bad, have helped be grow as a person and given me a unique perspective as I seek public office.

Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?

I think it's good to have a mix. Legislators with prior experience have institutional knowledge that can help them be more effective at navigating the political landscape, but those without experience provide fresh insight and aren't as encumbered by group-think.

What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?

As I've said a few times already: homelessness, our schools and fiscal responsibility. Oregon is a wonderful place and we've done a great job in many areas but these three are areas where our current leadership has failed miserably. We need strong leaders who can tackle these hard problems with creative thinking and bold action.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

Absolutely! Relationships and informal influence are essential to be an effective legislator.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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