Jim Bailey's campaign for County Commissioner in Gaston County is his first run for public office.

Jim is a retired Master Sergeant from the 169th Fighter Wing at McIntire ANG Base, with a history of service in the U.S. Air Force and the Air National Guard, including roles as a weapons instructor and supervisor on various aircraft. After military service, he worked at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association as a Training Coordinator in the Executive Security Division.

Jim is a native of Gaston County, where he has spent most of his life and graduated from East Gaston High School in 1982. He graduated from the FBI National Academy for Law Enforcement Administrators at Quantico and worked on graduate-level studies through the University of Virginia. He and his wife, Paige, have two children and they attend church.