Orator, conscience, advocate: State lawmakers honor Sylvester Turner with bipartisan accolades in Capitol ceremony

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An icon of Houston Democratic politics whose passionate oratory hushed the entire Texas House and inspired a Republican to promise to vote with him — but whose realism coached that Republican, a future House Speaker, to stick with his party.

A Democrat who wielded an unusual amount of power in the Republican-controlled Legislature, whose conviction was described as his superpower, but who hugged his political opponents after heated debates.

A mentor and leader committed to bringing people together and advocating on behalf of his constituents, earning him recognition as the “conscience of the House.”

With these tributes, state lawmakers formally honored former U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner on Thursday as his casket lay in state in the Texas House chamber, adding to a wave of homages to the longtime public servant ahead of his funeral on Saturday.

Turner, who died last week, had served in the Texas House for nearly three decades before becoming mayor of Houston from 2016 to 2024, leading the city through several natural disasters, including Hurricane Harvey.

He was elected to Congress last year after his predecessor and political ally, former U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, died in office from pancreatic cancer. Turner was two months into his first term representing Texas’ 18th Congressional District.

In the Texas House, where Turner spent nearly 27 years of his career, lawmakers from both political parties remembered him for his oratory, his advocacy for his constituents and his relationships with his colleagues — including those across the aisle. Earlier Thursday, the state Senate unanimously passed a resolution honoring Turner as “dedicated to bridging divisions and creating vibrant communities for all.”

“He set the example to me and so many others of what a true public servant ought to be,” House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, said, adding that he and Turner likely disagreed on most policy issues. “But the passion he brought to the issues taught me what it means to stand up for your district by putting your constituents first.”

Burrows recalled when, as a freshman lawmaker, he heard Turner give a speech in the chamber and the House floor went uncharacteristically quiet. He went up to Turner afterward to say that he was convinced, and that he would vote with Democrats. Turner instead advised him to stick with his party.

After giving a speech during a tense floor debate, “Congressman Turner was known to go up to his colleagues and give them a hug, reminding them that their disagreement was policy-based and not personal, and that he will always respect someone as long as they were standing up to their district,” Burrows said. “As speaker of this wonderful, diverse and sometimes difficult chamber, I can only hope that each of us lives up to the standard that he set.”

Though most of the two dozen or so lawmakers in the chamber during Turner’s memorial were Democrats, other leading Republicans also gave heartfelt tributes that emphasized bipartisanship and highlighted their personal friendships with the mainstay of Houston Democratic politics.

Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, who was in the same freshman class as Turner in 1989, held up a framed photo of them taken shortly after Turner won his first mayoral race.

He remembered Turner as wanting people in the Legislature to work together. “Working together, we get things done,” Hunter said. “That was Sylvester.”

Former House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, recalled a trip he took to Africa with Turner, whom he described as “totally afraid of the animals” and subsisting entirely off a diet of peri-peri chicken over two weeks.

“There’s no one in this chamber who could advocate more for his constituency than Sylvester,” Craddick said. “I was honored to know him as a friend, a father, an elected official and an advocate.”

The invocation of Turner’s bipartisanship and collegiality came amid a long-polarized political climate in Texas and across the nation. Lawmakers already this legislative session have had fraught debates over policy areas such as school vouchers and a proposal to overhaul the bail system, in addition to culture war issues like transgender rights and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

But on Thursday, lawmakers honored Turner and his willingness to hear other perspectives despite his convictions.

“He centered those people in all of the work that he did, and he not only lifted people up, but he brought people together,” Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, said. “Political stripes were of no concern to him.”

Turner maintained outsized influence in the Texas House for a Democrat in the Republican-dominated Legislature. He spent nearly 20 years on the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee, and he served for over a decade on two of the House’s most powerful committees: State Affairs, which oversees a sweeping range of key legislation, and Calendars, which sets the agenda for bills heard on the House floor.

“He was a statesman whose very presence commanded attention and whose words carried both the weight of his wisdom and his conviction,” said former Rep. Helen Giddings, D-DeSoto, who was Turner’s desk mate and office suite mate. “If there is such a thing as a superpower, Sylvester’s was conviction.”

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