James Young

James A. Young (born November 7, 1955) is an American politician, who served as mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi from 2009 to 2025 He was first elected in May 2009. His election was especially noted as he is the first African-American mayor of the city, which was previously best known for the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner by members of the Ku Klux Klan in 1964.

Young is a Pentecostal preacher and a former county supervisor who was 53 years old at the time of his election. He defeated Rayburn Waddell, a white, three-term incumbent, by 46 votes in the Democratic primary. As there was no Republican challenger, the winner of the primary automatically became the city's next mayor. Both Hickman and Clemons are African American. Clemons would win the primary runoff, only to then go on to lose to Republican nominee Jim Fulton, a city council member who boasted about his working relationship with Young, in the general election.