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Hi, Neighbor.

Thanks for taking a few minutes to check in. 

I want to lead with honesty: these last couple years have been HARD for everyone, and I’ve felt them in some of the same ways that you have. When the economy turned, it turned on me, too. So, I picked up work as a constable, walking a beat in the heart of Wilmington where I live. That job brought me face to face with the homelessness crisis, letting me not only see the issue from all angles but also to sit with and listen to the broad range of people suffering through it. I don’t share these things for sympathy. I share them because I know what it is to start over, and I think the person who stands for us in Dover ought to.

But even as I found my own way forward, I never dropped my commitment to pressing on the public policy that shapes our daily lives, and to holding our elected officials activists to account for what they do and for what they say. As you know, accountability isn’t something I picked up for a campaign; it’s what brought me to this work in the first place. If you’re new here, I’ve put together a list of answers to the questions that I’m most frequently asked when I’m out working in the community.

So let me be straight with you about where we stand. The choices in front of us this year aren’t the ones our Community deserves, and I won’t pretend otherwise. I believe with everything I have that the same stale thinking that let us miss golden opportunities over the last two terms isn’t the thinking that will move us forward. With that same token the stakes are far too high to gamble on leaders who aren’t ready for the weight of this moment. I’m genuinely hopeful about the path ahead, but progress requires that our leaders to be creative and realistic in the solutions they craft. Take a look at my Platform page to see what I’m proposing.

If you don’t remember anything else I want you to remember this: while getting the most votes will get me into office, what I’m really vying for is to be advocate you trust the most. That begins with listening fully and answering earnestly. So, please reach out and tell me how you’re really doing, what’s weighing on you, what you’re hoping for, and what you need from the people who claim to represent you. Reach out by phone or e-mail, and you’ll hear back from me, personally.

See you on the campaign trail!
– James

See you on the campaign trail!

– James 

“You need me to vote for you in November, right?”

I need you to vote for me on September 15, 2026 and November 9, 2026. Think of it like a two-part interview: the September election is when you decide who you’re going to give a second interview. The November election is when you decide whether to hire them. Remember, November means nothing without September. 

“Well, where have you been? I haven’t seen you.”

I’ve been around working for you, your family, and all of our community. Most recently I fought to ensure that the City of Wilmington didn’t continue solving homelessness at the expense of it historically Black neighborhoods. Prior to that I held city, county, and state legislators’s feet to the fire for the tax assessment debacle that I warned about back in 2024. Finally, I completed a computer science and data engineering bootcamp to get a deeper understanding of the true capabilities of AI and its likely effects on the economy. Soooo… I’ve been keeping busy lol.

“Why are you running? What makes you the best candidate in the race?”

I’m running because I want to make sure that as the State navigates these historic times, the 2nd District is not unduly effected by programmatic cuts and has its perspective and interests are thoroughly represented in the shaping of policy.

I’m the best candidate in the race for the following reasons:

• My record of advocacy demonstrates that I am in touch with my constituents and that I prioritize their wishes over marching orders from my party or threats from unaccountable special interest groups and unprepared, unethical activists;
• As a former D.C. policy staffer, I don’t need people to explain to policy to me and there’s no risk of a lobbyist misleading me; and
• Constituents trust me to not to abuse them, their trust, or my power.

These things can’t be said of my opponents.

“Tell me about your platform. What are you hoping to accomplish and how will you get it done?”

My platform is aimed at making the 2nd District healthier, wealthier, and more prepared Here’s  what I mean by each:

• Healthy: Working to address gun violence by ensuring that constituents can access quality mental health care, stemming accidental gun deaths by raising training standards for licensure, and expanding funding for evidence based direct intervention programs.
• Housed: Helping homeowners remain in their homes by expanding tax abatements, regulating home valuation and comparison standards, and working with local law schools to help targets of real estate speculation leverage estate planning law to protect their homes. I’ll also
• Together: Mitigating the effects of disinformation campaigns by expanding access to digital and media literacy programs in schools and regulating the use of AI in academic and public sector contexts. I’ll also continue pursuing the revival of the Delaware Democratic Party’s Progressive Caucus to give address infighting in the Party.

I have already begun working on these goals by consulting with community stakeholders to identify pain points, workshop solutions, and then connect them with appropriate out-of-state resources. Once elected I’ll use the office to expand this portfolio and ensure that worthy projects are considered for State funding. I’ll also propose legislation that cracks down on monopolies and price gouging in key industries, expands DNREC’s ability to regulate new construction projects, and regulates inefficiency in the management of government operations. 

“Do you have any experience?”

I have experience in politics and policy creation, and in management in both the public and non-profit sectors. I am currently the Chair of the Wilmington Democrats’ 4th Ward Committee, and before moving back to Wilmington in 2020, I worked briefly in the U.S. Senate in Chris Coons’s office while I was earning my master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. After leaving Sen. Coons’s office I worked at the German Marshall Fund and National Defense Industrial Association. Prior to that, I was the Director of Curriculum for the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League’s James H. Gilliam Fellowship and a Steering Committee member at Network Delaware where I co-chaired the Civic Engagement Team, supported organizing against Wilmington City Council’s 2018 Blight Bill, advised issue campaigns, and spurred the creation of the issue campaign that was the predecessor of Black Mothers in Power. 

“Are you a Democrat? You’re not one of those ‘wokies’ are you?!”

I am a member of the Democratic Party and I consider myself to be a “Pragmatic Progressive”. What that means is that I am a card-carrying activist who knows all of the tactics and has absolutely no qualms whatsoever about making things difficult for a politician or party standing in the way of good policy, but I won’t do anything before I’ve done my homework on an issue or advocacy plan. For me, that includes factoring in the views and lived experiences of so-called “non-elite” communities and thinking through the long- and short-term financial costs and equity considerations. I consider this preparation to be an ethical requirement and I take it incredibly seriously because policies that haven’t been sufficiently vetted always hurt people and they are a big reason Delaware isn’t wasn’t as well position to withstand the Trump presidencies. 

“Are you a person of faith? Can you tell me about your core beliefs?”

I prefer to think of myself as a person of conscience, which is to say that I cling to the core principles of my Christian faith but I don’t belong to any particular church and I don’t attend religious services as regularly as I did when I was growing up (please, nobody tell my Godmother lol). If I had to give my top three core beliefs, I’d say that they are…

1. Leadership is service, and service is about sacrifice, never one’s personal desires or ego. 
2. One’s wealth or capabilities may make one more fit to purpose than another in some contexts, but no person is intrinsically worth more than another.
3. We develop our intellectual capabilities and capacity to discern so that we are better able to help others, not lend credibility to our condemnation of them.

“Are you from here?”

I am PROUD to be able to say that I am Delaware-born, Wilmington-bred, and have lived or worked in every part of the District that I’m running to represent. Moreover, my father’s family has been in Delaware since before the turn of the last century and my maternal family has been in Delaware since the 1950s when my great-great grandparents moved from Northern Virginia to 10th & Lombard on the historic Eastside of Wilmington. As a result of my lineal and experiential ties to the district’s neighborhoods, I think of myself as being a sort of representative of the 2nd District already.

“Where did you go to high school?”

I went to A.I. High School and graduated in the class of 2005. 

“Who are you endorsed by?”

It’s critical that the 2nd District get a Representative who will favor it over special interests and advocacy groups. So, I don’t really seek out endorsement or political donations. It’s been my experience that many, if not most, endorsements and donations come with attached strings that are intended to make the recipient into a puppet. Because of this, I’ve decided that I will not actively seek any endorsements and will only accept them provided that it’s understood that an endorsement will not influence my votes in the legislature. I intend to work for the constituents and the constituents alone, and I intend to respect their wishes — even if others disagree with them — until I leave office. 

That said, it’s my policy to answer any questionnaires that are sent to me as candidly and as honestly as possible, as I believe that voters have a right to truly know who is seeking to represent them. 

“Where can I donate or sign up to volunteer?”

You can click the donate button on the left if you’d like to donate. If you’d like to volunteer please send us an e-mail Campaign.Manager@JamesForDelaware.com and we’ll get you connected!

— James 

James Taylor is a Democrat running for State House of Representatives in the 2nd district, which covers East Wilmington, Northeast Boulevard, Midtown Brandywine, Trinity Vicinity, Lower Market, the Riverfront, Browntown, Ashley Heights, and East Newport.

Paid for by the Committee to Elect James Taylor