The NBA - America’s Legal Conscience: Election Protection
An informed, protected, and activated electorate is paramount to today's fight for a more just society. The political atmosphere in the United States represents an existential threat that must be challenged. In the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "fierce urgency of now," we must reignite the powerful force of voter education without delay. As a former New Orleans City Councilman and the only NBA candidate seeking the nomination for President-Elect who has elected political experience, I know firsthand the power of political office and the impact those in office can have on the lives of others. My political background has garnered me powerful political allies in this fight. I have the endorsement and support of the First Vice-Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Troy Carter, and Former Senior Advisor to President Biden, Cedric Richmond.
Federal life-changing elections are fast approaching that will impact the freedom, justice and equality of citizens across the nation. The 2026 United States Midterm Elections are of particular importance. Understanding this precipice of time, I sounded the alarm to the leadership that the NBA should immediately engage its Election Protection initiative, and my request was granted. I was also given a leadership role as the 5th Circuit Representative on the Election Protection Coordinating Committee. The NBA must engage its non-partisan but formidable election protection initiative to impact the Midterm Elections, which would fall within the 2025 President-Elect's leadership year. As we have done in the past, the NBA must take the lead in educating the African American community, in particular, on the electoral process. As President, I will use the full power, strength and resources of the NBA to support this initiative. This is why the first pillar of my campaign platform, Civic Activism & Voter Education, is not just a priority, it is a necessity.
Civic Activism through Voter Education Matters Now More Than Ever
This moment demands leadership that is proven, prepared, and principled, not for photo ops or empty rhetoric, but for real action. A political system that suppresses choice, undermines legal accountability, and shields injustice under the guise of righteousness is not a system rooted in democracy. One of my proudest moments as a Vice President and member of the NBA was my participation in the impressive 2024 NBA United States Presidential Election Protection Initiative. In strategic partnership with other prominent civil rights organizations, the NBA showed up in force. On election day, I served from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. at our Washington, DC, national headquarters and previously visited the formidable Atlanta, Georgia headquarters.
Service Is Not New for Me, It is a Lifetime Commitment
I have lived a life of service for decades. From rebuilding New Orleans as an elected City Councilman after Hurricane Katrina, to helping drive down the murder rate as the city’s first African American Criminal Justice Commissioner, to taking students from underserved communities to world destinations and into courtrooms, my life’s work has been centered around building access and opportunity. As Managing Partner of The Cochran Firm Trials and Mass Torts and as past Chair of the billion-dollar University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors, I have fought to make institutions more responsive to the people. I have worked across Regions, Affiliates, Sections and Divisions to ensure the National Bar Association stands not just for prestige, but for purpose.
As immediate past Vice President of Regions & Affiliates, I successfully led the 2023 NBA National Constitution Day Program, which focused on teaching voter rights to thousands of high school students nationwide. Along with the President of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, I presented to students in Brooklyn, NY. I was also on the ground with NBA members at a community center in Miami, Florida for the 2023 Wiley Branton Symposium. The NBA organized an assembly of residents in a session titled “A Community Forum on Voting Rights and the Threat to Democracy.”
What Comes Next Is Up to Us
As a proactive leader who recognizes the politically precarious times we are confronted with today, I have a key role in engaging the NBA Election Protection Initiative that will continue beyond the 2025 NBA election. This initiative resumes the critical work of arming the electorate with information and support to participate in an unfettered electoral process. To that end, I am working on the following objectives in continuity with the new NBA leadership:
Educate communities on voting rights, election processes, key deadlines and the direct link between the ballot and their basic rights,
Register eligible voters with a focus on historically underrepresented groups.
Protect voters from disenfranchisement and provide real-time support for voting issues.
Activate voters to participate in the Midterm elections through coordinated outreach efforts.
Mobilizing lawyers as civic leaders, not just in courtrooms, but at the ballot box.
At the NBA Centennial in Chicago, I will present on Election Protection and recruit attorneys to join us in taking a stand to protect our constitutional right to vote. This campaign is about more than a position. It is about standing together against a rising tide of extremism, suppression, and institutional erosion. It is about reaffirming that our political leaders must work for the people, not as a weapon against them. Inaction is not neutrality; it is complicity. Activism must be the heartbeat of our profession, not the footnote. In the spirit of the late great Pauli Murray, a 1944 graduate of my alma mater Howard University School of Law, let us build a National Bar Association that does not just respond to history but helps shape it. THE NATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION IS AMERICA’S LEGAL CONSCIENCE!
I am ready to serve!
In service,
James Carter
Proven. Principled. Prepared.