Sylvester Turner, a former mayor of Houston who was sworn in as a U.S. consultant in January, died on Wednesday in Washington. He was 70 and had been in attendance on the president’s speech on Capitol Hill.
His press secretary, Gregory Carter, mentioned Mr. Turner had been taken to a hospital after the speech after which returned house, the place he died. He mentioned a trigger had not been decided.
Mr. Turner, a Democrat, was a veteran of Texas politics. He served within the State Legislature from 1989 to 2016, when he grew to become mayor of Houston. He served two phrases earlier than leaving workplace in January 2024.
A couple of months later, he entered a particular election to fill the congressional seat left empty by the loss of life of Consultant Sheila Jackson Lee; he then withdrew from the first in favor of Ms. Lee’s daughter, Erica Lee Carter. Ms. Carter received that race and endorsed Mr. Turner within the November common election.
He was sworn into workplace on Jan. 3.
Mr. Turner was born on Sept. 27, 1954, in Houston. His father was a painter, and his mom was a housekeeper at a resort.
He graduated as valedictorian from his highschool, then acquired a bachelor’s diploma in political science from the College of Houston in 1977 and a legislation diploma from Harvard in 1980.
He returned to Houston to work as a trial lawyer, first for a longtime agency after which for his personal agency, Barnes & Turner, which centered on business legislation and private harm litigation.
His marriage to Cheryl Turner resulted in divorce. Survivors embody their daughter, Ashley Turner-Captain.
As a liberal Democrat within the more and more conservative Texas State Legislature of the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s, Mr. Turner earned a fame for fiery, partisan speeches. However he additionally had the power to work throughout the aisle to advance points he cared about, like well being look after low-income Houstonians.
He ran for mayor of Houston in 1991 and 2003, each occasions unsuccessfully. His 1991 loss was shut, and he blamed the end result on what he known as a libelous information report linking him to an insurance coverage rip-off.
In 1996, he efficiently sued the reporter and the tv station that broadcast the report. However the state Supreme Court docket overturned the jury award, saying that Mr. Turner had did not show malicious intent.
He ran for mayor once more in 2015, and this time he received, thanks partly to an endorsement from President Barack Obama.
As mayor, he continued his efforts to broaden well being care entry in Houston, and he received reward for cleansing up town finances. However he was criticized for his resolution in 2017 to not order a normal evacuation of town within the face of Hurricane Harvey, a Class 4 storm that killed some 60 folks.
Having been in Congress for less than two months, Mr. Turner didn’t have a lot time to determine a presence or a legislative report. His first invoice, launched final month, was to supply on-the-job cybersecurity coaching in federal places of work.
Forward of the president’s speech, Mr. Turner spoke to reporters together with his visitor the night, Angela Hernandez, a Houston mom who depends on Medicaid to look after her youngster, who has particular wants.
“My message to the present administration for tonight’s State of the Union: ‘Don’t mess with Medicaid,’” he wrote on his Instagram account.
