Newly elected Texas lawmaker replaces late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who died hours after attending Trump’s speech
Former Houston Mayor, Texas Rep. Sylvester Turner, died suddenly at the age of 70 just two months after joining Congress.
Current Houston Mayor John Whitmire announced Turner’s death at the beginning of Wednesday’s city council meeting, according to local news reports.
According to Whitmire, Turner was taken to hospital on Tuesday after Donald Trump attended the speech to Congress. He was later pronounced dead.
“It shocked everyone,” Whitmire said when he asked to lower the Houston flag to half mast. “I will ask the Houstonians to come together and pray for his family and celebrate this extraordinary civil servant with us. Celebrating his life, we will do it.”
Turner’s cause of death is still unknown. He was previously diagnosed with bone cancer in 2022 and underwent surgery and radiation therapy.
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The then Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner was at a party on July 28, 2023
Turner served as mayor of Houston from 2016 to 2024 and saw the city through Hurricane Harvey and the 19th pandemic (Covid-19).
After the death of longtime Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, he was elected as the 18th Congressional District of Texas in November 2024, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June 2024.
He was a lifelong resident of Houston and studied at the University of Houston before studying at Harvard Law School.
Turner’s daughter and grandson survived.
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