[1][2] O’Rourke's political interest arose from his opposition to the policies of Robert Muldoon, who was Prime Minister from 1975 to 1984.

[3] When Hercus retired prior to the 1987 election, O'Rourke stood to be Labour's new candidate in that electorate, but lost the nomination to Peter Simpson.

He championed unpopular projects like the Kate Valley Landfill and set up the Recovered Materials Foundation, which represented the start of kerbside recycling in Christchurch.

[11] He also sought re-election to Christchurch City Council as well as a seat on the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) in the 2010 local elections, but did not win a seat in either group; for the council he came second in the one-member Banks Peninsula ward[12] and for the health board he came seventeenth in a contest for seven positions.

He was known to undertake exhaustive research on his portfolios and claimed to have "read every word in every council report" ever put to him.

[3] Since 2000, O'Rourke was one of the Christchurch City Council representatives on the Central Plains Water Enhancement Steering Committee under Doug Marsh as chairman.

[25] Since 2008, O'Rourke has been chairman of a recycling plant in Opawa owned by Becon Canterbury that handles demolition waste and other commercial refuse.

In 2014 it had come to light that James had left a bogus review of the service on TradeMe which gained attention as O'Rourke had been elected to the Parliament.

[27] In 2014 O'Rourke was investigated by the Speaker of the House David Carter for employing his partner or spouse in a tax-payer funded administrative role.

[27] O'Rourke denied that this was occurring, and that the person who lived at the address with him was just a friend and business partner.