Turner Went Down Swinging with Warning
to President Before Attending His Speech
Capitol Inside
March 5, 2025
Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner of Houston spent his entire adult life fighting for the people who needed help the most and had no voice in the corridors of government. One of the all-time greatest state lawmakers in Texas history, Turner died on Wednesday morning after a battle with cancer that he thought he'd won.
But Turner went down swinging with a warning that he issued to President Donald Trump before his speech to Congress on Tuesday night. Turner posted a video earlier that day with a constituent, Angela Hernandez, who he'd invited to Washington D.C. to advocate for a 2-year-old daughter who suffers from a rare genetic disorder.
"Let me be clear: any cuts to Medicaid are a direct attack on families like Angela’s," Turner said in a post on X. "President Trump and Elon Musk’s push to gut Medicaid is nothing short of a betrayal of the most vulnerable among us. They are playing politics with children’s lives, and I will not stand for it."
Turner attended Trump's speech before he was taken to a hospital on Tuesday night. Turner was released from the medical facility - however - and died shortly before 6 a.m. at his home from complications attributed to failing health.
Turner is the second consecutive Congressional District 18 representative to die in office. Turner was elected last year after Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee's death after a long stint in CD 18.
Turner served as the Houston mayor for eight years before his election to Congress. But he arguably made his biggest mark in Austin when he was a member of the Texas House for 27 years before claiming the city leadership post in 2016.
A Houston native who's political career began as the speaker of the Senate at the University of Houston, Turner returned to the Bayou City after graduating from Harvard Law School. Turner worked initially for the law firm that Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski founded before starting his own firm. Turner won a Texas House seat initially in 1988 - and he made an instant splash as a fiery orator on the floor during debate.
Turner was a member of the Appropriations Committee during four regular sessions with Democrat Pete Laney at the helm as the speaker. Turner served six more terms on the budget panel under GOP Speakers Tom Craddick and Joe Straus. Turner was the Appropriations Committee vice-chair in his last three regular sessions in the House - and he chaired seven separate subcommittees on the budget panel.
Turner was the State Affairs Committee vice-chair during four terms under Laney. He served on the State Affairs Committee during four regular sessions with Straus in the dais before leaving Austin to take the wheel in his hometown.
Capitol Inside honored Turner as the most valuable player in the Texas House in 2013 for "what very well might have been the greatest performance by a state legislator on either side of the aisle in modern Texas history."
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