James L. Walls, Jr.

Mayor James L. Walls, Jr. is an American politician.

Walls was elected the youngest person ever in the City of District Heights, Maryland’s 70 year history to serve on the city council at the age of 25 on May 5, 2003. The following year in May 2004 he made history again by becoming the city’s youngest Vice Mayor at the age of 26. In May 2006, He was elected the youngest Mayor in the City, becoming the youngest Mayor in the State of Maryland.

Mayor Walls was the Founder and served as the 1st President of the Maryland Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials and was elected to the Executive Board of Directors for the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials (NBC-LEO) during the 2005 NLC Congress of Cities Conference. He currently serves as the National Treasurer of the Caucus. In 2007, He was elected Vice-President for the World Conference of Mayors and was Appointed Chairman of the National Conference of Black Mayors-Small Town and Rural Development Committee. He also serves as President of the Maryland Black Mayors Association. In the fall of 2003, Walls received an appointment from President George W. Bush to serve on the United States Selective Service Board for the state of Maryland. The Selective Service Board is a group of five citizen volunteers whose mission, upon a draft, will have to decide who among the registrants in their community will receive deferments, postponements, or exemption from military service based on the individual registrant's circumstances and beliefs. In 2004, Mayor Walls was appointed a Commissioner on the Maryland State Board of Foresters. He filed in the 4th Congressional District during the 2008 Presidential Election to run as a Male Delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

Mayor Walls is an Alumnus of the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL). In 2003, he was selected out of a thousand National, State and Local elected official candidates to travel with a US delegation to the Republic of Hungary and Romania in Eastern Europe. In 2005, he was asked to serve as a US AID Ambassador to the Balkans for the First historic Europe & Eurasia Young Leaders Conference in Macedonia. The conference concluded with the dedication of a “Liberty Pavilion” at Southeast European University, erected as a symbol of democracy to commemorate this pioneer gathering of Young political leaders working to expand freedom’s frontier across Europe and Eurasia.

He is an Ordained Baptist Minister and former Assistant Pastor of Greater Light Missionary Baptist church in Capitol Heights, Maryland. He currently serves as the Associate Pastor of Forestville New Redeemer Baptist Church.

He attended the Spirit of Truth Christian Bible College and Richmond Virginia Seminary. He has also studied and earned Certificate's in Leadership Development from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government and is an Academy Fellow of the University of Maryland, Institute of Local Governance. He also studied History & Pre-Law at Bowie State University and Sociology at Sojourner Douglass College in Baltimore, MD. In 2007, he earned Professional Certificate’s in Small Business Management and Real Estate/Property Management from Ashworth University.

He currently serves as the Town Manager/CAO for the Town of Fairmount Heights, Maryland.

Walls is an active member of the Free and Accepted Masons and Order of the Eastern Stars in Maryland. He is also a member of the Royal Arch and Knights Templar.

James L. Walls, Jr. is also an active member of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.