Sylvester Turner (born September 27, 1954) is an American attorney and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Texas's 18th congressional district since 2025.

In 2024, after the death of Sheila Jackson Lee, Turner announced his candidacy to fill her congressional seat and was nominated at the subsequent convention.

In 1984, Turner ran for Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 1 in the Democratic primary, but lost to El Franco Lee.

[14] During his 1991 campaign for Houston mayor, Wayne Dolcefino of KTRK-TV ran an investigative report questioning Turner's involvement in an elaborate insurance fraud scam.

The Texas Supreme Court overturned the money award based on heightened legal protections that the First Amendment affords to the media.

[21] In 2023, Turner endorsed Sheila Jackson Lee to be his successor in the 2023 Houston mayoral election but she lost by nearly 30 percentage points.

[24][25] Following the death of Sheila Jackson Lee, which vacated Texas's 18th congressional district, Turner announced his candidacy in the Democratic primary to fill her seat[26] and was nominated at the convention.

[30] In 1999, Turner voted to restructure the electric utility industry in Texas to allow customers competition and consumer choice.

[31] During his time in the legislature, he also worked to continue to protect Texans, voting for bills preventing gas companies from cutting off service during freezing temperatures,[32] limiting the amount utility companies could raise rates in order to fund certain projects, such as building electric poles and wires, without first getting approval from state regulators,[33] and authoring legislation that required the Public Utility Commission to conduct cost-benefit analyses of any proposals from utility companies that would add more than $100 million to annual consumer electricity costs.

[35] Turner also voted to allow the Public Utility Commission to issue emergency cease-and-desist orders, without first going to a court, to companies whose actions threaten the state's electricity supply.

[39] In 2004, he voted against a measure that would have scaled "back benefits for future public school employees and discourag[ed] early retirement.

[42] As a member of the legislature, Turner voted against a measure that would allow school districts to lower their salaries, implement furlough days,[43] and increase student-teacher classroom ratios.

[44] He also opposed a corporate tax break that many legislators, in the Texas House of Representatives, believed would hurt public school funding.

[45] Texas has banned sanctuary cities,[46] but Mayor Turner said that Houston will not assist ICE agents with immigration raids.

[55] During the 84th Legislature, Turner introduced legislation that would provide care under Medicaid for people with severe and persistent mental illness and who are transitioning from an institution to the community, and who are at risk of institutionalization or re-institutionalization.

[69] Turner asked the police to start enforcing an ordinance that bans sharing food with homeless people in the city of Houston.

[77] In November 2022, Turner disclosed that during the summer he had been diagnosed with bone cancer, for which he had surgery and received six weeks of radiation treatment.