James O. Naifeh (born June 16, 1939) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party from the State of Tennessee.

After graduating from the University of Tennessee, Naifeh served in the United States Army as an infantry officer.

From 1995 to 2008, Naifeh was married to Betty Anderson, considered by many Tennessee political observers to be the most influential lobbyist in the state.

In the 2008 November elections Republicans won the majority of the state House, winning 50 of the 99 seats, with the Democrats holding 49.

[2] Naifeh, who was chairing the House for the last time, helped to engineer Williams' election by instructing the House clerk to depart from the normal practice of conducting a roll call of the members in alphabetical order, instead calling first on the Democrats, then on the Republicans.