Jim Walsh (Washington politician)

Walsh attended Amherst College, graduating in 1986. He currently lives in Aberdeen with the younger two of his five children, who still attend school in the area. His wife was killed in a fatal car crash on October 24, 2022. He was first elected to the state legislature in 2016. He represents the 19th Legislative District, including parts of Grays Harbor, Pacific, Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, and Lewis counties.

Representative Walsh is weighing a run for Washington’s Third Congressional District after it unexpectedly flipped in the 2022 midterm elections.

In 2021, Walsh wore a yellow Star of David (the symbol that Nazis forced Jews to wear during the Holocaust), likening individuals who refuse to vaccinate against COVID-19 to the Jews in Nazi Germany. Walsh said, "In the current context, we’re all Jews." The Seattle-based Holocaust Center for Humanity said that Walsh trivialized the Holocaust and distorted history.

In August 2021, Walsh and four other state Republican lawmakers held an unofficial hearing with the aim of possibly calling for a "forensic audit" to take place in Washington State similar to the criticized Arizona audit. The group that organized the event also invited figures that have falsely claimed there was voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

In October 2018, roughly two weeks before the elections, Walsh was sued by two constituents for banning them from his Facebook page. The constituents argued that Walsh's actions constituted a violation of their first amendment rights. Walsh countered that they were blocked from his page for defaming his supporters and specifically bashing on Christians, claiming he had warned them to stop their disruptive posts on multiple occasions before finally removing them. The chief plaintiff in the lawsuit, Jeff Nichols of Montesano, is the outgoing chair of the 19th Legislative District Democrats.

James W. Walsh (born 1964) is a Republican member of the Washington State House of Representatives.