Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-TX) , the former mayor of Houston and first term Democratic lawmaker has died.
Turner’s death came months after he won an election last November to fill late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee’s seat in Texas 18th congressional district. Turner was 70.
Before he was elected to the United States Congress, Turner served in the Texas House of Representatives for 27 years. He was elected mayor of Houston in 2016 and served for eight years.
Turner attended Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.
“We’ve lost an outstanding public official,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire told Houston Public Media. “Experience matters folks. No one will be able to step into Sylvester’s shoes and carry on his duties because there’s only one Sylvester Turner.”
His cause of death is not yet known. But, Turner has battled cancer in the past. In 2022, he announced that he was diagnosed with bone cancer but underwent treatment and was cancer free.
