James Walter Elder (October 5, 1882 – December 16, 1941) was an American lawyer and politician who served one-term as a United States Representative for Louisiana's 5th congressional district from 1913 to 1915.

Biography

A native of Grand Prairie, Texas, James W. Elder attended the public schools and from 1895 to 1901 Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He later studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1903, and commenced practice in Farmerville in Union Parish, Louisiana.

Early career

Elder served as mayor of Farmerville before he moved to Monroe in Ouachita Parish to continue his legal practice.

Politics

He was a member of the Louisiana State Senate for one term from 1908 to 1912 and was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-third Congress, in which he served from March 4, 1913, to March 3, 1915. He was defeated for renomination in 1914 by Riley J. Wilson.

Later career and death

After leaving Congress, Elder returned to the practice of law in Farmerville. On January 1, 1925, he relocated to Ruston, where he continued the practice of law until his death on December 16, 1941.

He is interred at Greenwood Cemetery in Ruston.