By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-24 16:33:41 | Updated at 2024-10-24 18:19:28
1 hour ago
Kentucky State Senator Johnnie Turner passed away a month after being injured in a freak lawnmower accident that threw him into a swimming pool.
Turner, 76, was gravely injured in the accident on September 15 outside his home in rural Baxter, Kentucky, and his family said this week he passed after a 'hard fought battle' with his injuries.
Tributes have poured in for the lawmaker, who was first elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1998 before becoming a member of the state senate in 2020.
And because his death comes so close to election day, Turner's name will appear alone on the ballot without a single challenger, raising the prospect a special election will be needed if he is posthumously elected.
Kentucky State Senator Johnnie Turner, 76, passed away Tuesday, a month after being injured in a freak lawnmower accident that threw him into a swimming pool
Turner was thrown into the deep end of a swimming pool outside his home in Baxter, Kentucky (seen from an aerial view), and was hospitalized for a month before his passing
Turner's fatal accident unfolded outside his home while he was riding a lawnmower, however it is unclear what exactly caused the machine to fall into his pool.
The lawmaker fell into the deep end of the swimming pool, and he was transferred to a nearby hospital before being airlifted to University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville.
It has not been released what injuries Turner suffered, but Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers said in a statement after his passing that the state senator fought for weeks in hospital.
'Over the past weeks, his remarkable resolve and strength filled the Turner family – and all of us – with optimism, making this loss difficult to bear,' Stivers said.
'I will miss my friend; my heart breaks for his wife, Martiza, and his children.'
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell paid tribute to the lawmaker and recalled crossing paths with Turner earlier in their careers when they surveyed flooding damage in eastern Kentucky.
'Johnnie was on the scene, ankle-deep in mud, his equipment from home in tow, ready to help folks in Letcher County,' McConnell recalled to the Associated Press.
'That’s just who he was: a good man who loved the mountains and its people.'
Turner's family said he was 'especially proud' of his service in the US Army, during which time he was deployed to Panama and met his wife Maritza
Turner was first elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1998, but lost his seat in 2001 when his district was eliminated in redistricting.
After several failed attempts to return to office including a previous run for the Kentucky Senate, he later won the seat in November 2020.
An attorney, Turner was previously a soldier in the US Army, which his family said in a statement was something he was 'especially proud of.'
Turner's family said he met his wife Maritza while stationed in Panama, and upon his return to the Unites States, he 'quickly made plans to reunite with her in Kentucky.'
'They worked tirelessly to build a life together and start a family in southeastern Kentucky,' his family said.
'Sen. Turner soon became known as the "Legal Lion of the Mountains" for his unwavering advocacy on behalf of the working men and women of southeastern Kentucky.
'His work as both an attorney and a public servant earned him deep respect throughout the region, and his contributions to the Commonwealth will not be forgotten.
'He will be deeply missed by his colleagues, his community, and all those whose lives he touched.'
Turner's time in the state legislature was marked by his ardent support for coal and energy policies, and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell described him as 'a good man who loved the mountains and its people'
Turner's time in the Kentucky legislature was marked by his support for coal and energy initiatives, and he often criticized the collapse of the coal industry and its impact on Kentucky's economy.
In his last interview with WYMT in August, he vowed to continue fighting government regulations that he saw as crippling the industry.
'This government trying to kill the coal industry - it ain't going to happen in Kentucky, it just ain't going to happen,' he said.
Because Turner's death comes just three weeks before election day, his name will still appear on the general election ballot, the secretary of state's office has said.
He previously faced an independent challenger, but they dropped out of the race in recent weeks, leaving his re-election unopposed.
Write-in candidates will now have until Friday to file for the seat, otherwise a special election will be required to fill Turner's role if he is elected posthumously ahead of the start of Kentucky's session in January.
