James E. Harris (born 1948) is an American communist politician, perennial candidate, meatpacker, trade unionist, and member of the National Committee of the Socialist Workers Party. He was the party's candidate for President of the United States in 1996, 2000, and 2012. Harris also served as an alternate candidate for Róger Calero in 2004 and 2008 in states where Calero could not qualify for the ballot due to being born in Nicaragua. He served for a time as the national organization secretary of the SWP and was a staff writer for the party's newspaper, The Militant, in New York. He became a member of the Student Mobilization Committee Against the War in Vietnam and later served on its national staff in Washington, D.C. Harris was endorsed by mayoral candidate Sydney Stapleton, but was defeated in the general election. He later became a national chairperson of the coalition. Harris finished seventh with 11,239 votes. Harris lived and worked in Detroit in the early 1990s and was a member of the United Auto Workers. Laura Garza was his running mate.
Harris once again ran for president in 2000 with Margaret Trowe as his running mate. In the state of Florida, Harris was initially rewarded 9,888 votes in Volusia County despite winning a total of just above 500 statewide. After requesting a recount he was found to have only received 8 votes, a "computer disk glitch" was described as the cause. Carlos Alvarez, the other far-left candidate (from the Party for Socialism and Liberation) received 1.11%.
In 2012 Harris ran for President with Maura DeLuca as his running mate. The ticket received 4,115 votes, the lowest total in the party's history, with one of the party's house candidates performing better than the ticket. He was on the ballot in Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Washington and was a declared write-in candidate in the state of New York.
On the 60th anniversary of the Korean War's ceasefire, Harris joined the Socialist Workers Party delegation to Pyongyang. He endorsed Rachele Fruit for president in 2024.