RIP, Rep. Sylvester Turner

This came as a total shock yesterday morning.

Rep. Sylvester Turner

U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner, a former Houston mayor, state legislator and institution in Houston Democratic politics, died early Wednesday morning. He was 70.

Turner’s death comes two months into his first term representing Texas’ 18th Congressional District, the seat long occupied by his political ally, former U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who also died in office last year amid a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Turner said in 2022 that he had secretly been recovering from bone cancer. Last summer, as he was seeking the nomination for Jackson Lee’s seat, Turner said he was cancer-free.

Before joining Congress, Turner served as Houston mayor from 2016 to 2024. He served for nearly 27 years in the Texas House.

Gov. Greg Abbott can call a special election to fill Turner’s congressional seat for the rest of his term. State law does not specify a deadline to call a special election, but if it is calle.

Turner’s death comes at a critical time in Congress. House Republicans have few votes to spare as they look to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda, including extending his 2017 tax cuts. With Turner’s safely Democratic seat vacant, Republicans now control 218 seats to Democrats’ 214 — an extra vote of breathing room in the narrowly divided chamber.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire, Turner’s successor, confirmed the news at Wednesday’s Houston City Council meeting. Turner was working in Washington, D.C., and was taken to a hospital, where he died, Whitmire said.

“This comes as a shock to everyone,” Whitmire said. “I would ask Houstonians to come together, pray for his family, join us in celebrating this remarkable public servant. Celebrate his life, which we will be doing.”

Whitmire, who has recently clashed with Turner over several political and policy issues, said he and Turner were very close and had “been together in good times and bad times.” The two overlapped in the Texas Legislature — Whitmire in the Senate, Turner in the House — for Turner’s entire legislative career.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said House Democrats were “shocked and saddened” by Turner’s sudden death.

“Though he was newly elected to the Congress, Rep. Turner had a long and distinguished career in public service and spent decades fighting for the people of Houston,” Jeffries said in a statement. He noted that Turner was at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday evening for Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress, calling him a “fighter until the end.”

To highlight his opposition to proposed Medicaid cuts, Turner invited a constituent to the speech, Angela Hernandez, whose daughter has a rare genetic disorder. In a video posted to social media Tuesday evening alongside Hernandez, Turner finished by saying, “Don’t mess with Medicaid.” Jeffries invoked that as Turner’s “final message to his beloved constituents.”

I’m still stunned. With Rep. Jackson Lee, we knew this was coming. With Rep. Turner, we had no reason to believe he wouldn’t be around for the two or three terms he said he intended to serve after winning the precinct chair election last year. He was present, with an invited guest, for the macabre travesty that we once knew as a State of the Union address, last night. And then he was gone. I’m truly saddened by this loss. My deepest condolences to his family and many friends, some of whom are also friends of mine. I had a lot of respect for Rep. Turner, who was a formidable presence in the Legislature for many years before being elected Mayor. I thought he was a successful Mayor, who put all of that same energy he had in Austin to improve the city. He was cut from the same cloth as the late Rep. Jackson Lee, in that he was always there for people and never lost touch with where he came from. He worked hard, he did his best, he cared a great deal, and I’m having a hard time imagining the world without him right now. It’s a big loss.

As for what happens next, the various news stories about Rep. Turner’s death only agreed on one thing, that there will be a special election to succeed him. The Chron said that straight up, and that Greg Abbott calls the election. The Houston Landing said:

Gov. Greg Abbott can call a special election to fill the congressional seat for the remainder of the unexpired term, which runs through 2026. There is no deadline in state law for the election to be called, but it must be held on the first uniform election date 36 days after the special election is ordered.

Hold that thought, because I’m going to disagree with two things in that one paragraph. Note that the Trib story agreed about there being no specific deadline to call the election, but “the election is required to happen within two months of the announcement”, which is more than 36 days and also not correct. Finally, the Press also referenced the “no specific deadline” bit and suggested that Abbott may go full shenanigans, implying the possibility that the special election could be delayed until November. A later Chron story makes a similar point.

Let’s go to the law, shall we? Election Code Chapter 201, subchapter C:

Sec. 201.051. TIME FOR ORDERING ELECTION. (a) If a vacancy in office is to be filled by special election, the election shall be ordered as soon as practicable after the vacancy occurs, subject to Subsection (b).

(b) For a vacancy to be filled by a special election to be held on the date of the general election for state and county officers, the election shall be ordered not later than the 78th day before election day.

We can ignore Subsection (b) for now. Note the use of “shall” in the first item. It’s not that Abbott “can” call a special election, he must, by law. “As soon as practicable after the vacancy occurs” strongly suggests to me that he can’t just sit on his thumbs for a few months for the hell of it but needs to take action sooner rather than later. There is no specific deadline as noted by all, but a plain reading of the text is clear, he should get on with it.

Back to the law:

Sec. 201.052. DATE OF ELECTION. (a) Except as otherwise provided by this code, a special election to fill a vacancy shall be held on the first authorized uniform election date occurring on or after the 46th day after the date the election is ordered.

(b) If a law outside this code authorizes the holding of the election on a date earlier than the 46th day after the date of the order, the election shall be held on the first authorized uniform election date occurring on or after the earliest date that the election could be held under that law.

The next uniform election date is May 3. The one after that is the general November election. Forty-six days before May 3 is March 18, which is twelve days from today. That’s plenty of time for Abbott to call a special election for May 3, with a filing deadline that would be on March 20, or “5 p.m. of the 40th day before election day”, as specified in Sec. 201.054. If we somehow get to March 18 – or really, March 14 or so – without Abbott ordering the election, then we know the fix is in and the 18th will once again go unrepresented until November. Pitchforks and torches would not be out of order if that happens. The full Chron obituary is here, and Houston Public Media and the Houston Defender have more.

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