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James Cooper III (Georgia)
James Cooper III (Democratic Party) (also known as Jimmy) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Georgia's 8th Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.[source]
Cooper completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
James Cooper III earned a bachelor's degree from Mercer University in 1993 and a graduate degree from the Earlham College of Religion in 1996. His career experience includes working in customer service. He has been affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America.[1]
Elections
2026
See also: Georgia's 8th Congressional District election, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for U.S. House Georgia District 8
The following candidates are running in the general election for U.S. House Georgia District 8 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Austin Scott (R) | |
 | James Cooper III (D)  | |
 | Kelly Esti (D) | |
 | Justin Laster (D) | |
| Justin Lucas (D) | ||
 | Vinson Watkins (R) | |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
2022
See also: Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Georgia House of Representatives District 145
Incumbent Robert Dickey defeated James Cooper III in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 145 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Robert Dickey (R) | 99.9 | 15,964 |
| James Cooper III (G) (Write-in) | 0.1 | 19 | |
| Total votes: 15,983 | |||
| = 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 Georgia House of Representatives District 145
Incumbent Robert Dickey advanced from the Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 145 on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Robert Dickey | 100.0 | 6,340 |
| Total votes: 6,340 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
2020
See also: Georgia's 8th Congressional District election, 2020
Georgia's 8th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 9 Republican primary)
Georgia's 8th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 9 Democratic primary)
General election
General election for U.S. House Georgia District 8
Incumbent Austin Scott defeated Lindsay Holliday and James Cooper III in the general election for U.S. House Georgia District 8 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Austin Scott (R) | 64.5 | 198,701 |
 | Lindsay Holliday (D) | 35.5 | 109,264 | |
| James Cooper III (G) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 48 | |
| Total votes: 308,013 | |||
| = 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 U.S. House Georgia District 8
Lindsay Holliday advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Georgia District 8 on June 9, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Lindsay Holliday | 100.0 | 44,493 |
| Total votes: 44,493 | |||
| = 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 U.S. House Georgia District 8
Incumbent Austin Scott defeated Robert Vance Dean and Daniel Ellyson in the Republican primary for U.S. House Georgia District 8 on June 9, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Austin Scott | 89.8 | 73,671 |
| Robert Vance Dean | 5.7 | 4,692 | ||
 | Daniel Ellyson | 4.5 | 3,668 | |
| Total votes: 82,031 | |||
| = 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
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
James Cooper III completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cooper's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am a musician, an actor, a former small business owner, a political activist, and a cancer survivor.
I am a working-class American who understands firsthand the issues that so many Americans face today. I know what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck, struggle to make ends meet, go without healthcare, have to choose between paying rent, paying other bills, and having food to eat, have already insufficient wages garnished for student loan debt, and to be one missed paycheck away from financial devastation.
I am passionate about creating social and economic equality and justice for all people. I believe in showing Love, compassion, empathy, and respect to all people, and treating all people fairly.
As a U.S. Representative, I will work to bring the American people together for the common good, restore rights that have been taken away from people, restore integrity and rule of law to all branches of our government, and to promote civility and good will between Americans of all backgrounds.
I will work to to empower working-class Americans, and to make the U.S. into a true land of opportunity, where ALL people are able to live the American dream.- I am running for Congress because the people of Georgia’s 8th Congressional District deserve to have the opportunity to support and vote for a working-class progressive who will work for the good of the American people, not just corporations and billionaires. The only way we are ever going to change things and make the system work for the average American is for working-class Americans to organize, and run for office ourselves, and for working-class Americans to support and vote for those candidates. We cannot rely on millionaires and billionaires, establishment politicians, or a privileged political class to do the job for us.
- Establishment politicians don’t work for us. They never have and they never will. They work for their billionaire and corporate donors. The super rich and those who live privileged lifestyles will never truly understand what it is like to be a middle-class, working-class, or poor American. If the majority of Americans want elected officials who are going to actually work for us, then we are going to have to empower ourselves. I am running to represent Georgia’s 8th Congressional Dist. I encourage other working-class progressive Americans to make the decision now to run for Senate, House of Representatives, Governors, and other state and local offices. Together, we can change our government and make it finally work for the American people.
- We need leaders who will work to establish Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, thriving wages for all American workers, a Federal Jobs Guarantee, Universal Basic Income, equal rights for ALL Americans, protect and expand Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans, and restore women’s reproductive rights and healthcare rights for transgender youth. We need leaders who will stand up to Trump and his dangerous agenda of hate, spite, revenge, and greed, his disregard for the U.S. Constitution, his support for war and genocide, and his cruel policies towards working-class and poor Americans, women, consumer protection, fair immigration policy, people of color, immigrants, transgender youth, and anyone else he doesn’t like.
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.
2022
James Cooper III did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
James Cooper III did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 17, 2025
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