Sneha Girap (Editor)

Jim Turner (politician)

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Preceded by
  
Charles Wilson

Party
  
Democratic Party

Political party
  
Democratic

Succeeded by
  
Ted Poe


Spouse(s)
  
Ginny Turner

Resigned
  
January 3, 2005

Name
  
Jim Turner

Books
  
Winning the War on Terror

Jim Turner (politician) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Born
  
February 6, 1946 (age 78) Fort Lewis, Washington (
1946-02-06
)

Role
  
Former U.S. Representative

Education
  
University of Texas at Austin

Previous office
  
Representative (TX 2nd District) 1997–2005

James Turner (born February 6, 1946), American politician, was the Democratic representative for the Texas 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1997 until 2005.

Contents

Early life, education, and early career

Turner was born in Fort Lewis, Washington, but grew up in Crockett, Texas. He received a bachelor's degree in business, and simultaneously earned an MBA and a J.D., all from the University of Texas at Austin. Following graduation, he was commissioned in the U.S. Army, serving 8 years (active and reserve), attaining the rank of Captain. His legal career in Texas included his own law practice in his hometown of Crockett, his partnership in the Austin office of Hughes & Luce LLP and serving as Of Counsel with Hance Scarborough, LLP.

State politics

Prior to being elected to Congress, Turner held several state and local offices. He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1981 to 1984, mayor of Crockett, Texas from 1989 to 1991, and a member of the Texas Senate from 1991 to 1996. He succeeded Kent Caperton of Bryan in the Senate. Caperton did not seek reelection in 1990, and Turner defeated the Republican Lou Zaeske, also of Bryan, head of the Texas English-only movement. For two years, Turner was an Executive Assistant to Texas Governor Mark Wells White.

U.S. House of Representatives

After 2nd district congressman Charlie Wilson, who was known for his role in funding the resistance to Afghanistan's Communist government, decided not to run for a thirteenth term, Turner won the Democratic nomination to succeed him and was handily elected in November 1996. He was reelected three times with no substantive opposition. Congressman Turner was a member of the Armed Services Committee, and was the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security. A fiscally conservative Democrat, Turner co-chaired the Blue Dog Coalition and was a member of the New Democrat Coalition.

In 2003, Turner was one of the targets of a highly controversial redistricting engineered by Tom DeLay. The Texas Legislature dismantled his district, which covered a large portion of East Texas stretching from Lufkin to the suburbs of Houston, and split its territory among three districts. The largest portion was shifted to the 8th District, represented by Republican Kevin Brady, who had been elected the same year as Turner. While Turner had represented more of the new 8th than Brady, most of the 8th's vote was cast in heavily Republican Montgomery County, which has as many people as the rest of the district combined. His home in Crockett was thrown into the Fort Worth/Arlington-based 6th district, an even more Republican area represented by ten-term incumbent Joe Barton, who represented 96% of the population of the new district. With no realistic chance of winning the newly-drawn district, Turner decided not to run for a fifth term in 2004.

Post-political career

He was briefly mentioned as a candidate for governor of Texas or the United States Senate seat of Kay Bailey Hutchison in 2006.

In 2005, Turner joined the Washington office of Arnold & Porter, LLP where he headed the Public Policy and Legislative Practice Group.. In 2017, he became associated with the Austin, Texas law firm of Hance Scarborough, LLP, where he is Of Counsel and works in their government relations practice group.

Personal life

He and his wife, Ginny, were married in 1970. They have two children, John Turner and Susan Turner Nold, who are both attorneys in Texas.

References

Jim Turner (politician) Wikipedia