HOUSTON — Seven months after leaving the Houston mayor’s office, Sylvester Turner says he is now ready to run for the congressional seat held by the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, his longtime friend for nearly 30 years.
But he told KHOU 11’s Len Cannon that if he’s chosen by precinct judges to be on the November ballot and wins, he has no intention of staying in Washington for very long.
“If you are to become the next congressman of the 18th District, how long would do you think you would serve?” Cannon asked him.
“Maximum, I would say, two (terms),” he said. “Maximum.”
Two terms in the House would be four years.
Turner believes his decades in the state legislature and eight years as Houston’s mayor give him the connections to be a force in Congress right now, and what he calls a bridge of stability until the next person is elected.
Then there are questions about his health.
“You had your own battle with cancer two years ago,” Cannon said. “People are wondering, are you healthy enough to run for Congress?”
"Well number one, I would not be running if I wasn't healthy,” he said.
“Are you healthy enough?”
“I am healthy enough," Turner said. “I asked my doctor, ‘Is there any reason why I should not’ and he said, ‘No.’”
In 2022, Turner was diagnosed with bone cancer in his left jaw, which was reconstructed. Doctors then put a metal bar in his jaw. He had to wear this mask for six weeks of radiation treatment. He says the metal had an adverse reaction to the radiation, which explains how the jaw looks now.
“What you see right now is where they went in and removed the metal bar, and this is a skin patch, a flap that eventually, gradually goes down," he said.
“Do you have the stamina to meet the demands in Congress?” Cannon asked.
“I think people have seen me,” he said. “I have not stopped."
Turner believes a decision will be made on a candidate before the Democratic convention starts on August 19.
Before the election in November, Governor Greg Abbott may call a special election to fill the remainder of Jackson Lee’s current term.