Johnnie Turner, a Kentucky state senator known for his stalwart advocacy for the coal industry, died after succumbing to injuries sustained at home when the lawn mower he was riding plunged into his empty swimming pool, the Associated Press reported. He was 76.
Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers released a statement sharing news of Turner’s death, writing that the senator had lost his “hard-fought battle” with the injuries he sustained during the freak accident several weeks earlier.
“Johnnie spent his life lifting others—whether through his service in the U.S. Army, as a member of the State House of Representatives and State Senate, or in his private legal practice,” Stivers wrote. “His unwavering commitment to the people of Eastern Kentucky—his constituents, brothers and sisters in Christ, whom he so fondly referred to as ‘his people’—was at the heart of everything he did.”
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a fellow Kentucky Republican, fondly remembered Turner, calling him a “friend” in a statement released Wednesday.
“In recent years, I remember crossing paths with Johnnie to survey the damage left by the devastating floods that hit 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 wrote. “That’s just who he was: a good man who loved the mountains and its people.”
Damon Thayer, Kentucky Senate majority floor leader, told the AP that Turner “was just an amazing man of the mountains, who is kind and generous and open-minded about supporting initiatives that were good for the entire state, while at the same time being a fierce advocate for his region.”
Turner, who served in the Kentucky House from 1999 to 2002, won a Senate seat in 2020.
In his time as a senator, Turner represented an Appalachian district encompassing several counties in eastern Kentucky, an area once dominated by the coal industry. Even as new environmental regulations pushed electric providers away from the energy source toward renewable alternatives, Turner fought hard for pro-coal legislation.
In his bid for re-election this year, Turner defeated two other Republicans in the primary and was unopposed after an independent challenger dropped out. His name will appear on ballots due to the proximity to the election.
If a write-in candidate doesn’t file to join the race by Friday, a special election will be held to fill Turner’s seat, the secretary of state’s office told the AP.
