James Allan Barcia (born February 25, 1952) is an American Democratic politician from

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. He has served successively in the

Michigan House of Representatives The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2010 ...

, the

Michigan Senate The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. Along with the Michigan House of Representatives, it composes the state legislature, which has powers, roles and duties defined by Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, ado ...

, the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

and then again the Michigan Senate, from which he was term-limited in January 2011. He has served as County Executive of

Bay County, Michigan Bay County is located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 103,856. The county seat is Bay City. Bay County comprises the Bay City, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area and is included in the Saginaw-Midland-B ...

since January, 2017.

Early life and education

Barcia was born in

Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city and county seat of Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and it is the principal city of the Bay City Metropol ...

and graduated from

Bay City Central High School Bay City Central High School (BCC) is a high school located at 1624 Columbus Avenue, Bay City, Michigan, United States, and a part of Bay City Public Schools. Its mascot is the wolf, and its colors are purple and gold. Building history The build ...

. He received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

from

Saginaw Valley State University Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) is a public university in University Center, Michigan in Saginaw County. It was founded in 1963 as Saginaw Valley College. It is located on in Saginaw County's Kochville Township, approximately north of ...

in 1974. He was staff assistant to

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

Philip A. Hart Philip Aloysius Hart (December 10, 1912December 26, 1976) was an American lawyer and politician. A Democrat, he served as a United States Senator from Michigan from 1959 until his death from cancer in Washington, D.C. in 1976. He was known as t ...

of Michigan in 1971. Barcia also was a community service coordinator for the Michigan Blood Center, between 1974 and 1975, and he was an administrative assistant to Michigan state representative Donald J. Albosta, from 1975 to 1976.

Career

Barcia was a member of the

Michigan State House of Representatives The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2010 U ...

, from 1977 to 1983. He left the House after being elected to the

, where he served until he resigned in 1993 to enter the

. Barcia was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

from

Michigan's 5th congressional district Michigan's 5th congressional district is a United States congressional district in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The district is represented by Republican Tim Walberg. Predecessors From 1873 to 1993, the 5th was based in the Grand Rapids a ...

to the 103rd Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1993 to January 3, 2003. Like many Michigan Democrats outside of

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, and

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...

, Barcia was quite moderate. He was opposed to

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

and

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...

, and had a lifetime rating of 54 from the

American Conservative Union The American Conservative Union (ACU) is an American political organization that advocates for conservative policies, ranks politicians based on their level of conservatism, and organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference. Founded on ...

—the highest of any Democrat from Michigan at the time. After the

United States 2000 Census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 cen ...

, Barcia's district was dismantled by the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

-controlled state legislature. Most of his district's territory was shifted to the 10th District, but his home in Bay City was merged with the neighboring 9th District of fellow Democrat

Dale Kildee Dale Edward Kildee (September 16, 1929 – October 13, 2021) was an American politician who served as U.S. Representative of Michigan from 1977 to 2013. He was a member of the Democratic Party. His district included Flint, Saginaw and Bay ...

. The new district retained Barcia's district number (the 5th), but was geographically more Kildee's district. Under the circumstances, Barcia opted to run for his old seat in the State Senate and won. On October 10, 2002, Jim Barcia was among the 81 House Democrats who voted in favor of authorizing the

invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Ba'athist Iraq, Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one mont ...

. With Kildee announcing his retirement July 2011, Barcia considered running for his congressional seat in 2012. In 2016, Barcia won a heated election to the position of

Bay County Bay County is the name of three counties: * Bay County, Florida, United States * Bay County, Michigan, United States * Baicheng County Baicheng County () as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Bay County (pronounced l ...

Executive, after winning the Democratic primary against long-time incumbent Thomas L. Hickner in August. During the campaign, Barcia was accused of hiding campaign funds and using a misleading TV ad.

References

External links

Michigan Senate - Jim Barcia
official government website
Floor Statements
video clips
Project Vote Smart - Senator James 'Jim' Barcia (MI)
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Jim Barcia
200620042002
campaign contributions
Michigan Senate Democratic CaucusMichigan Liberal - SD31Blogging for Michigan
Sen. Jim Barcia: Renewable and Alternative Fuels—Not just the right thing, but the SMART thing * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barcia, James 1952 births Living people County executives in Michigan Democratic Party Michigan state senators Democratic Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives Saginaw Valley State University alumni Politicians from Bay City, Michigan Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians