James J. Lyons Jr.


James J. "Jim" Lyons Jr. is an American politician who is the chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party and represented the 18th Essex district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for four terms. He was a member of the Judiciary Joint Committee and the Public Health Joint Committee.

Political career

State representative

On November 2, 2010, Lyons upset incumbent representative Barbara L'Italien. He was sworn in on January 5, 2011. Lyons's legislative priorities often focused on anti-abortion issues, fighting the Opioid epidemic, and advocating for local aid. He derailed a bill that would have added a gender-neutral option to Massachusetts driver's licenses, forced the state reveal that it gave out $1.8 billion in public assistance to undocumented immigrants, and led an unsuccessful effort in the state legislature to remove Salem Superior Court Judge Timothy Feeley from the bench. He served as Ted Cruz's Massachusetts campaign Chairman during the 2016 Republican presidential primary. Lyons was upset in the 2018 election by Democrat Tram Nguyen.

State party chairman

On January 17, 2019 Lyons was elected chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, defeating incumbent party treasurer Brent Andersen by a vote of 47 to 30. A conservative, Lyons did not have the support of the moderate state party establishment led by Governor Charlie Baker. Lyons also did not have the support of Donald Trump's Massachusetts campaign chairman, Vincent DeVito, who had endorsed Andersen in a public letter sent to supporters of Trump on May 31, 2016.