Sylvester Turner was the mayor of Houston from 2016 to 2024, then briefly served in the U.S. House of Representatives.
- Died: March 4, 2025 (Who else died on March 4?)
- Details of death: Died in Washington, D.C. at the age of 70.
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Sylvester Turner’s legacy
A native of Houston, Turner attended the University of Houston and got his law degree at Harvard. He practiced law in Houston for years, focusing on immigration law. He began his political career in 1988, when he was elected to the state House of Representatives as a Democrat. He served there for more than 25 years, chairing the Texas Legislative Black Caucus and the Greater Houston Area Legislative Delegation.
Turner first ran for mayor in 1991, then again in 2003. Both campaigns were unsuccessful, but in 2015, he won in a run-off. Before his election, Houston mayors had served two-year terms, with a limit of three terms. In the 2015 election, voters passed a proposition to increase mayoral terms to four years, with a limit of two terms. Turner was successfully elected to a second term in 2019. His years in office were fraught ones for Houston, with natural disasters including Hurricane Harvey and a devastating 2021 winter storm. Among his goals as mayor was a reduction in traffic deaths in the city, including a push for stricter regulations of ridesharing apps.
After his second term ended in 2024, Turner didn’t immediately intend to run for another office. In fact, he expressly told an interviewer at KHOU in late 2023, “I am not interested in going to Congress.” However, his mind was changed midway through 2024. After the July death of longtime U.S. representative from Texas’ 18th district, Sheila Jackson Lee (1950–2024), a special election was called. Turner threw his hat in the ring, and he won last November’s special election. He served just two months in Congress, joining the freshman class of U.S. representatives on January 3.
Notable quote
“Harvey, COVID, social civil unrest, winter storm. … Houston has proven to be resilient, and we are still moving forward.” — from a 2023 interview for KHOU
Tributes to Sylvester Turner
Full obituary: Texas Tribune
