Robert L. Turner (born September 14, 1947), is a former Democratic member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

, serving eleven terms from 1991 to 2013. Turner currently serves on the City of Racine Police and Fire Commission. Turner was the first African American elected to Wisconsin’s Assembly not from Milwaukee.

Biography

Turner was born in

Columbus, Mississippi Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, on the eastern border of Mississippi, United States, located primarily east, but also north and northeast of the Tombigbee River, which is also part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterwa ...

and moved with his family to Racine. He was employed by the

J.I. Case Company The Case Corporation was a manufacturer of agricultural machinery and construction equipment. Founded, in 1842, by Jerome Increase Case as the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company, it operated under that name for most of a century. For ano ...

, and served four years in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

Security Police Security police officers are employed by or for a governmental agency or corporations to provide security service security services to those properties. Security police protect facilities, properties, personnel, users, visitors and enforce cer ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, from 1967 through 1970, including service during the 1968

Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) against the forces o ...

. He was elected to the City Council in 1976, and was elected to the State Assembly in 1990. He left the City Council in 2004 after serving concurrently as City Councilmember and State Assemblymember for 14 years. After the arrest and resignation of Racine Mayor Gary Becker in 2009, Turner announced his candidacy for the special election to fill the remainder of Becker's term. Turner passed the primary, but was defeated in the runoff by

John Dickert John T. Dickert (born December 6, 1962) is an American Democratic politician and was the 57th mayor of Racine, Wisconsin. He now works as the Administrator of the Division of State and Local Finance in the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, appoi ...

. Turner had previously defeated Dickert in the 1990 and 2002 primary elections for Wisconsin Assembly. He announced his retirement from the Assembly in 2012, after

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

dramatically reshaped the Racine-area senate and assembly districts. His retirement cleared the way for

Cory Mason Cory D. Mason IV (born January 25, 1973) is a Democratic Party politician and the mayor of Racine, Wisconsin. From 2007 to 2018, Mason served as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly representing the city of Racine and eastern Racine County. ...

to run in the redrawn 66th District, which was composed of the southern part of Turner's old 61st District and the eastern part of Mason's old 62nd District. In 2018, Cory Mason, now Racine Mayor, nominated Turner to the Racine Police and Fire Commission. Turner is a life member of the

Vietnam Veterans of America Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc. (VVA) is a national non-profit corporation founded in 1978 in the United States that is committed to serving the needs of all veterans. It is funded without any contribution from any branch of government. VVA is th ...

, the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

, and a 33rd degree Mason.

Electoral history

Wisconsin Assembly (1984)

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Wisconsin Assembly (1990-2008)

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Racine Mayor (2009)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", Primary Election , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election

Wisconsin Assembly (2010)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", Primary Election , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election

References

External links

Representative Robert L. Turner
''official government website'' * * ''Follow the Money'' - Robert L. Turner
200820062004200220001998
campaign contributions {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Robert L. Politicians from Columbus, Mississippi Politicians from Racine, Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Parkside alumni Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly 1947 births Living people 21st-century American legislators