Dean helped raise money for his brother's political campaigns, and worked full-time on Howard Dean's first race, his 1986 run for lieutenant governor of Vermont. In 2005, Jim Dean became chair of DFA. In this role, he has raised money, given speeches, and organized for DFA in his home state of Connecticut.
Jim, his wife Virginia, and their three children live in Fairfield, Connecticut. James, Howard, and their brother Bill were brothers of Charles Dean, who was abducted and killed by communist guerrillas in Laos in 1975.