James R. Edwards, Jr.

James R. Edwards, Jr., brings expertise in both public relations and public policy.  A principal and co-founder of Olive, Edwards, & Cooper, Mr. Edwards has nearly 20 years of experience in public affairs. He has been dubbed “Jim ‘Can-Do’ Edwards” by a lobbyist who has worked closely with him.

Mr. Edwards formerly served as assistant vice president of communications at the Healthcare Leadership Council. His responsibilities included corporate and advocacy communications, media relations, and writing and editing. He also took on legislative duties at HLC for Judiciary Committee-related issues, including antitrust, product liability reform, and the False Claims Act. He served on the steering committee of the Antitrust Coalition for Consumer Choice in Health Care, heading the coalition’s communications committee.

Mr. Edwards worked as U.S. Rep. Ed Bryant’s legislative director, where he handled the Congressman’s Judiciary Committee assignment.  His legislative and oversight duties included intellectual property, immigration, antitrust, judicial discipline, civil rights, constitutional, and crime issues.

On Capitol Hill, Mr. Edwards was senior speechwriter at the Republican National Committee. He ghostwrote for top GOP leaders. He previously served as press secretary and legislative assistant (and later, as acting legislative director) for U.S. Rep. John Duncan, Jr. He acted as the Congressman’s chief spokesman, handling media relations and communications strategy, as well as Banking, Public Works and Transportation, and Select Aging Committees’ assignments. He began his congressional career on the staff of U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond.

Mr. Edwards co-authored The Congressional Politics of Immigration Reform (Allyn & Bacon, 1999). He is an adjunct fellow with the Hudson Institute and has testified before Congress on several occasions.  His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Investor’s Business Daily, and National Review, as well as other publications. Mr. Edwards has appeared on CBS Evening News, National Public Radio, and talk radio programs across the country.

Mr. Edwards earned his doctorate at the University of Tennessee in mass communication, and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in speech communication at the University of Georgia.  He has taught in the Claremont McKenna College Washington Semester Program, at Union University, and Carson-Newman College.
 

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