James Alfred Taylor (September 25, 1878 – June 9, 1956) was an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party from West Virginia.

Taylor was born near Ironton, (Lawrence County, Ohio), where he attended the public schools.

After graduating, he worked in a printing office in Ironton, before he moved to Alderson, West Virginia, where he also engaged in the newspaper business.

Taylor resumed the newspaper publishing business and was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for governor in 1928.

During his later career he served on the West Virginia Liquor Commission (1941–45) and was elected to the Fayette County Board of Education in 1946 for a six-year term.