Jim Lower
James Lower is an American politician who has served as a Republican member of the Michigan House of Representatives representing the 70th district since 2017. Lower previously served on the Ionia County Board of Commissioners, was the Village Manager of Edmore, Michigan, and was the campaign manager for Brian Calley's state senate campaign in 2010.Lower was elected to the Ionia County Board of Commissioners in 2010, becoming one of the youngest elected officials in Michigan and the board's youngest member as a 21-year-old. Jim also served as Village Manager for the Village of Edmore, Michigan until he announced his candidacy for the Michigan House of Representatives.
Michigan state representative Rick Outman was term limited out of the 70th District House seat in 2016. Lower announced his candidacy for the seat in January 2016 and won the 2016 election with 63% of the vote, beating Democratic Party candidate Ken Hart and Green Party candidate Michael Anderson.
In December 2018, Lower sponsored a bill during the lame-duck session which would make it harder to get signatures for ballot initiatives. The Detroit Free Press noted that the bill came "on the heels of three successful ballot proposals that were overwhelmingly approved by voters... but were opposed by many Republicans." The bill would require that a ballot initiative cannot get more than 15 percent of total signatures from any one of Michigan's 14 districts. Lower said that the intention behind the bill was to "get more transparency in the process and more input from voters."
Lower lives in Greenville, Michigan with his wife Kristen and two young children.
In May 2019, Lower announced that he was challenging independent U.S. Representative Justin Amash for Michigan's 3rd congressional district in the 2020 election. He withdrew from the race in November 2019.
