James William Turner, known as Jim Turner (born February 6, 1946), is an American lawyer and politician who was the Democratic U.S. Representative for

Texas's 2nd congressional district Texas's 2nd congressional district of the United States House of Representatives is in the southeastern portion of the state of Texas. It encompasses parts of northern and western Harris County and southern Montgomery County, Texas. From 2002 ...

from 1997 until 2005.

Early life, education, and early career

Turner was born in Fort Lewis,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, but reared in Crockett in Houston County in

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region cons ...

. He received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in business, and simultaneously earned an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

and a J.D., all from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

. Following graduation, he was commissioned in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

and served eight 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 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 The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...

from 1981 to 1984,

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Crockett from 1989 to 1991, and a member of the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per co ...

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 Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Lou Zaeske, also of Bryan, head of the Texas English-only movement. For two years, Turner was an executive assistant to Texas

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Mark White.

U.S. House of Representatives

In 1996, 2nd district U.S. Representative Charlie Wilson, known for his role in funding the resistance to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

'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, when

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

was reelected as U.S. President. He was reelected three times with no substantive opposition. Congressman Turner sat on the

House Armed Services Committee The U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, commonly known as the House Armed Services Committee or HASC, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is responsible for funding and oversight of the Department of De ...

, and was the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Considered a somewhat fiscally Conservative Democrat, Turner co-chaired the

Blue Dog Coalition The Blue Dog Coalition (commonly known as the Blue Dogs or Blue Dog Democrats) is a caucus in the United States House of Representatives comprising centrist members from the Democratic Party. The caucus was founded as a group of conservative De ...

and was a member of the

New Democrat Coalition The New Democrat Coalition is a caucus in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress made up of Democrats, primarily centrists, who take a pro-business stance and a moderate-to-conservative approach to fiscal matters. As of ...

. In 2003, Turner was one of the targets of a highly controversial redistricting engineered by

Tom DeLay Thomas Dale DeLay (; born April 8, 1947) is an American author and retired politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1985 until 2006. He was Republic ...

. The

Texas Legislature The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the US state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a powerful ar ...

dismantled his district, which covered a large portion of

stretching from Lufkin to the suburbs of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, and split its territory among three districts. The largest portion was shifted to the 8th District, represented by

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 much population 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 the then ten-term incumbent

Joe Barton Joseph Linus Barton (born September 15, 1949) is an American politician who represented in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 to 2019. The district included Arlington, part of Fort Worth, and several small towns and rural areas south ...

. Barton represented 96 percent of the population of the new district. Believing that he stood no realistic chance of staying in Congress, Turner decided not to seek a fifth term in 2004.

Post-political career

He was briefly mentioned in 2006 as a potential candidate for governor of Texas against Rick Perry or the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

seat then held by Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison but now the domain of Senator

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...

. In 2005, Turner joined the Washington office of Arnold & Porter, LLP as the head of the Public Policy and Legislative Practice Group. In 2017, he became associated with the Austin 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 John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and leader of t ...

, who represents District 114 in the

and practices at the

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

law firm Haynes and Boone; and Susan Turner Nold, who is Director of the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at the Moody College of Communication.

Election history

1994

1992

References

External links

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress:TURNER, Jim, (1946 - )

Vote Smart: JAMES 'JIM' TURNER'S BIOGRAPHY

Govtrack.us: Rep. James “Jim” Turner
* , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Jim 1946 births 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas Living people Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives People from Fort Lewis, Washington People from Crockett, Texas Democratic Party Texas state senators Mayors of places in Texas University of Texas School of Law alumni Arnold & Porter people United States Army officers McCombs School of Business alumni Military personnel from Texas