James Creel Marshall (born March 31, 1948) is an American attorney who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 2003 to 2011.

[2] The son and grandson of army generals, Marshall was born in Ithaca, New York, but moved frequently during his childhood and graduated from the McGill Institute (which later merged with Bishop Toolen to form McGill-Toolen Catholic High School) in Mobile, Alabama.

He served in Vietnam as an Airborne Ranger reconnaissance platoon sergeant and earned two Bronze Stars (with "V" devices for valor) and a Purple Heart.

Marshall also chaired the successful state senate campaign of Robert Brown, the first African American since reconstruction to be elected to that body from outside the Atlanta metro area.

During his tenure, the City of Macon increased its reserves, decreased its debt, lowered its property taxes and acquired a new public safety communications system.

Marshall received national news attention for running down (on foot) a felon and encouraging Macon citizens to voluntarily house thousands of refugees from Hurricane Hugo.

[4] After the 2000 Census, the state legislature carved away much of the heavily Republican southern portion of the old 8th, including Chambliss' home in Moultrie.

Marshall also had to contend with the presence of Sonny Perdue (a Houston County resident) atop the ballot as the Republican candidate for governor.

[citation needed] Early in 2005, the Georgia state legislature, now controlled by Republicans, approved a new map of congressional districts.

Collins had represented a district in the southern Atlanta suburbs during his first stint in Congress, but moved back to his native Butts County after it was drawn into the reconfigured 8th.

[6] Collins benefited from two visits by President Bush, massive amounts of national party and PAC funding and Perdue's presence atop the ticket.

He voted to restrict access to legal abortions and supported a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

He was a prominent supporter of the TARP bailout legislation, declaring that he would give up his seat by voting for the bill, which he believed to be essential to avoid a second Great Depression.

[19] Due to his military background, Marshall became a prominent voice on defense matters early in his first term when he won partial repeal of "the Disabled Veterans Tax" (also known as "concurrent receipt").

[20] In February 2007, he and Gene Taylor from Mississippi were the only Democrats to vote against H CON RES 63, which expressed opposition to a troop surge in the Iraq War.

[21] Marshall opposed the non-binding resolution H CON RES 63 because he believed that the only tangible affect it might have was a negative one on troop morale for those charged with executing the surge, as he explained in remarks to Congress.

[22] Along with 38 other Democrats, Marshall voted against the Affordable Health Care for America Act, and explained his reasons to do so in an article in the National Review.