Hilary Turner

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Hilary Turner

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

University of West Florida, 2011

Personal

Birthplace

Monroe, La.

Religion

Christian

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

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Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Hilary Turner (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent West Virginia's 3rd Congressional District. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Turner completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Hilary Turner was born in Monroe, Louisiana. She obtained an undergraduate degree from the University of West Florida in August 2011. As of 2020, her professional experience included working as a teacher, a licensed massage therapist, and a certified yoga teacher. She was affiliated with the West Virginia Can't Wait movement and the Huntington Tenants Union.

Elections

2020

See also: West Virginia's 3rd Congressional District election, 2020

West Virginia's 3rd Congressional District election, 2020 (June 9 Democratic primary)

West Virginia's 3rd Congressional District election, 2020 (June 9 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House West Virginia District 3

Incumbent Carol Miller defeated Hilary Turner and Belinda Fox-Spencer in the general election for U.S. House West Virginia District 3 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Carol Miller (R)	71.3	161,585
		Hilary Turner (D)	28.7	64,927
		Belinda Fox-Spencer (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	0

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 226,512
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House West Virginia District 3

Hilary Turner defeated Lacy Watson, Paul Davis, and Jeff Lewis in the Democratic primary for U.S. House West Virginia District 3 on June 9, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Hilary Turner	29.5	16,862
		Lacy Watson	29.3	16,760
		Paul Davis	24.5	14,020
		Jeff Lewis	16.7	9,542

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 57,184
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House West Virginia District 3

Incumbent Carol Miller defeated Russell Siegel in the Republican primary for U.S. House West Virginia District 3 on June 9, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Carol Miller	70.3	40,226
	Submit photo	Russell Siegel	29.7	17,024

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 57,250
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2020

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released September 29, 2019

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Hilary Turner completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Turner's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Hilary Turner has been a committed advocate for social justice and environmental protection. She grew up in Pensacola, Florida and received her Bachelors degree in International Studies with a minor in Environmental Science from the University of West Florida.

In college, she founded and lead a Progressive Student Alliance, where she organized students to start a community garden, advocated for fair-trade and sustainability, organized against police brutality in Pensacola after the death of Victor Steen, and organized peace demonstrations.

During her junior year, she worked on a class-action lawsuit against Massey Coal Company and Don Blankenship in a case in Logan County, West Virginia, where 700 families had their well-water poisoned.

She also spent a year studying sustainable permaculture and agriculture in Brazil.

In the years after college, Turner worked in education as a teacher in public schools and private schools, and in healthcare as a massage therapist.

In 2015 through 2016, Turner was an organizer for Bernie Sanders. After Sanders' primary loss, she moved to her family's farm in West Virginia, where she experienced the 2016 thousand-year floods. Turner now has a daughter, and is dedicated to creating a sustainable world for all future generations.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• It is imperative that we protect our water and address climate change.
• We need single-payer, universal healthcare so we can establish healthcare as a human right and make sure families don't go bankrupt when they get sick.
• We need to get corporate money out of politics so that the government can represent the interest of the people.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Supporting environmental protection through strengthening the EPA to protect air and water, and passing a Green New Deal that supports regenerative farming practices, small, local farms, restoring ecosystems, and a just transition for workers in the fossil fuel industries.

Ending subsidies from fossil fuel industries into renewables and grants for sustainable small businesses and small sustainable farms.

Fully legalizing hemp and marijuana, and decriminalizing plant medicines.

Supporting single-payer medicare-for-all, and the cancellation of all medical debt.

Supporting tuition-free college and cancelling all student loan debt.

Instituting a national starting salary for teachers of $60,000.

Passing immigration reform to allow people to seek come in legally to seek asylum and work, and treat people with dignity at our border.

Ending Citizens United, and stopping political corruption from corporate control of our government.

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage.

Job creation through small business and innovation funding.

Tenant rights and affordable housing protection through adequate housing standards.

Ending the opioid epidemic through decriminalizing addiction and supporting treatment centers, including Ibogaine treatment centers, and holding the pharmaceutical companies accountable.

Combatting human trafficking.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Bernie Sanders, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I want to follow their example because they have been champions for the people, refusing to be corrupted, and fighting for working-class families, while proving that regular people can win political offices.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

The writings of Naomi Klein.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty, compassion, understanding, ethics. Always fighting for people who are vulnerable and underprivileged; giving a voice to the voiceless.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I'm a good listener and I care about people. I'm also a good mediator between opposing viewpoints and try to understand the perspectives of all sides, and am skilled at getting people with differing viewpoints to understand the reasoning behind the positions I advocate for.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

To listen to constituents and to represent the interests of the people; to promote policies that are to the benefit of the people and to help uplift as many people as possible.

What legacy would you like to leave?

That I fought for a healthy environment and to protect people from corporate greed, while promoting innovative policies to work with the Earth in a way that benefitted the people.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

U.S. Women's team winning Gold at the Olympics in 1996; 8 years old.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Worked at a bagel shop for 5 months, then as a teacher at Montessori school for 2 years

What is your favorite book? Why?

The Alchemist - Because it's about the hero's journey.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Captain Marvel

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Year of the Woman - Dispatch

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Losing my best friend, Tiffany Daniels, at 25; She was like an adopted sister when we were younger, and had disappeared in 2013. Her car was found, but she never was.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

It is the birthplace for new changes in our federal laws, so it has the power large-scale changes to our political system and our country. It has the most representatives of any governing body in the United States, and all changes to any bills must first be approved by the house.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

It depends on if that individual representative has a history of corruption and voting according to corporate interests. If the representative simply votes for what corporations and monied interests want, then their time within the political system has likely corrupted them and is only harmful.

If the representative has legitimately worked for and listened to the people, then the experience of negotiating and working with other representatives can be beneficial.

The story of over 700 families who were poisoned by Massey Coal Company pouring sludge slurry into their water supply. Many of the children in these families developed kidney stones or cancer, and everyone suffered from negative health impacts.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Climate change and transitioning to a decarbonized economy in a dignified way while handling climate disasters such as wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, and related water and food security issues.

If you are not a current representative, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

-Agriculture

-Budget
-Energy and Commerce
-Foreign Affairs
-Natural Resources
-Science, Space, and Technology
-Small Business

-Transportation and Infrastructure

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

No, because it often means that they must almost quickly start the campaign cycle over again. I think the cycle should be 3 or 4 years, so that representatives can focus on getting things done, rather than a re-election campaign.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

I don't think people should necessarily be in congress for more than 10-12 years, and they should be barred from working as lobbyists afterwards.

If you are not currently a member of your party’s leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives, would you be interested in joining the leadership? If so, in what role?

Potentially, to form a progressive caucus.

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

AOC, Sanders.

Both sitting representatives and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

A young woman told me that she wanted to go to college but she had to drop out because Lowe's decided to fire all their long-time employees so they could hire new people at lower wages, so she couldn't afford to go to college. I found this impactful because of the implications it has on her ability to rise out of poverty.

Also the story of my neighbor to my family's farm who was an old man who was a heroine addict that had to go to Mexico to receive an Ibogaine treatment for one week. He came back totally cured of his addiction.

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See also

2020 Elections

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Footnotes

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West Virginia's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Shelley Capito (R)

Jim Justice (R)

Representatives

District 1

Carol Miller (R)

District 2

Riley Moore (R)

Republican Party (4)