Sylvester Turney Biography, Networth, Career, Family, Politics, Scandal

Who Is Sylvester Turner?

Sylvester Turner is an American politician and a Lawyer. Currently, he is the 62nd mayor of Houston, Texas.

In addition, he is a member of the Democratic Party. Moreover, Turner was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1989 until 2016.

Turner was elected for the first time as mayor of Houston in 2015. He won against Bill King in a runoff by 4,082 votes out of 212,696 votes in the closest mayoral race in Houston history by percentage.

He was then elected for the second term as mayor on December 14, 2019, with a 56-44% vote margin over the more conservative Tony Buzbee, despite a turnout of fewer than 20% of registered voters.

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Career

Legal Career

After graduating from law school, he joined the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski. After that, he founded his own firm, Barnes & Turner in 1983. In addition, he has also served as an adjunct professor at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Moreover, he has been a seminar lecturer at the South Texas College of Law and the University of Houston Law School’s Continuing Legal Education Programs.

He was subsequently admitted to the State Bar of Texas, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Moreover, he was also a member of the Texas State Bar, the American Bar Association, the National Bar Association, the Houston Lawyers Association, and the Houston Bar Association. Turner worked as an immigration lawyer in Houston for many years.

Political Career

Turner began his political career when he decides to run for Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 1 in the Democratic primary. However, he to El Franco Lee. After four years, he was then elected to the Texas House of Representatives in House District 139 in Harris County and remained in office through 2014. Furthermore, Turner ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Houston in 1991 and 2003.

During Turner’s 1991 mayoral campaign in Houston, Wayne Dolcefino of KTRK-TV broadcast conducted an investigation challenging Turner’s involvement in a complex insurance fraud scheme. However, Turner lost the race as a result of the ensuing controversy. Turner filed a libel lawsuit against Dolcefino and KTRK and was given a $5.5 million libel settlement. However, the compensation was later lowered to $3.25 million by the presiding court.

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Following the decision of a court, KTRK filed an appeal. However, the Texas Supreme Court reversed the monetary judgment based on the enhanced legal rights afforded to the media by the First Amendment. However, the court determined that both of these specific broadcasts were false and defamatory.

How Old Is Sylvester Turner?

He was born on September 27, 1954, and currently, he is aged 66 years old.

Sylvester Turner Family

Who are His Parents?
He was born in Houston, Texas, and even though he has kept information about his parents’ names private, his mother worked as a maid at the Rice Hotel while his father was a commercial painter.

Does He Have Siblings?

He has eight siblings, in a family of nine children.

Sylvester Turner Education

Turner attended Klein High School, where he was a class president and valedictorian. After that, he joined the University of Houston, where he was a Speaker of the Student Senate and graduated with a B.A. degree in political science. Turner was a finalist in the Ames Moot Court Competition while obtaining a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School. Moreover, he is a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

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Sylvester Turner Wife

Currently, he is not married. Initially, he was married to Cheryl Turner from 1983 to 1991.

Sylvester Turner Kids

With her ex-wife, they share a daughter by the name of Ashley Paige Turner.

Boards

In his 25 years of service, he served as a member of the Legislative Budget Board, Vice-Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Chairman of the Subcommittee of Articles 1, 4 & 5 General Government. He was also a member of the Judiciary, Public Safety & Criminal Justice, and the House State Affairs Committee during his tenure in the Texas House of Representatives.

In addition, he served as chair of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus and the Greater Houston Legislative Delegation. Furthermore, he was an advocate for policies that encourage doctors to practice in underserved areas. Furthermore, he was also legislation that would increase state funding for mental health services in Harris County from $32 million to $200 million. He went on and worked to increase funds for legal aid for low-income Texans.

Ride-Sharing Mobile apps

In 2016, he advocated a law, which regulates Uber and other ridesharing services to protect public safety.

LGBT rights

Turner was named as one of the top ten best members of the Texas House on LGBT matters in 2015 by Equality Texas, with an “A+” rating. This was after stating that he has “evolved” on LGBT issues.

While running against Bill King in the 2015 Houston mayoral runoff election. He went further and stated that he was “100%” committed to reenacting the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) and attacked Bill King for saying he will not revisit the issue of HERO, as well as his support from the Campaign for Houston.

Immigration

Texas City has banned Sanctuary cities, however, Mayor Turner stated that Houston will not help ICE agents with immigration raids.

Hurricane Harvey

In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Turner was highly criticized for refusing to recommend any sort of evacuation. In response to the criticism, he cited the practicalities of evacuating “6.5 million” people, as well as the fatalities and gridlock that happened during the Hurricane Rita evacuation in 2005.

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However, critics have responded that 6.5 million people did not need to be evacuated, but that tens of thousands of people in flood zones or those who were most vulnerable during catastrophes might have been evacuated instead.