James Alison Hayes (born December 21, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer.

In 1986, Hayes was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat to fill the seat vacated by John Berlinger Breaux.

In 1994, Hayes defeated a comeback bid by former Congressman Clyde C. Holloway of Forest Hill in Rapides Parish, Holloway's Louisiana's 8th congressional district having been eliminated and dismembered after the 1990 United States Census.

He was one of several Conservative Democratic lawmakers, mostly from the South, including Nathan Deal of Georgia, Mike Parker of Mississippi, Greg Laughlin of Texas and fellow Louisianan Billy Tauzin, to switch to the Republican party during that time, as the Republicans had taken majorities in Congress in the 1994 elections.

[2] He appeared at a December 2008 event to raise funds for the successful reelection in 2010 of Republican U.S.