Johnnie Turner (Kentucky)
Johnnie Turner (Republican Party) was a member of the Kentucky State Senate, representing District 29. He assumed office on January 1, 2021. He left office on October 22, 2024.
Turner (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Kentucky State Senate to represent District 29. Turner unofficially withdrew from the race but appeared on the general election ballot on November 5, 2024.
Turner died on October 22, 2024.[1]
Biography
Johnnie Turner served in the U.S. Army. Turner's career experience included working as an attorney.[2]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Turner was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Banking and Insurance Committee
- Senate Judiciary Committee
- Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, Vice Chair
- Senate Transportation Committee
- Banking and Insurance Committee
- Judiciary Committee
- Natural Resources and Environment Committee
- Transportation Committee
2021-2022
Turner was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Judiciary Committee
- Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, Vice chair
- Senate Transportation Committee
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
Johnnie Turner and David Suhr unofficially withdrew from the race and still appeared on the ballot. Any votes they received were not reported in the official results.[3]
See also: Kentucky State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Kentucky State Senate District 29
The following candidates ran in the general election for Kentucky State Senate District 29 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Scott Madon (Independent) (Write-in) | 35.2 | 6,825 |
| Willie Crase (Independent) (Write-in) | 14.9 | 2,892 | ||
| James Tyler Ward II (Independent) (Write-in) | 10.3 | 2,006 | ||
| Tanner Hesterberg (Independent) (Write-in) | 9.8 | 1,908 | ||
| Justin Noble (Independent) (Write-in) | 9.5 | 1,844 | ||
| Leonard Hendrickson (Independent) (Write-in) | 6.5 | 1,266 | ||
| Valerie Horn (Independent) (Write-in) | 6.4 | 1,238 | ||
| Craig Blackburn (Independent) (Write-in) | 3.7 | 722 | ||
| John Clem (Independent) (Write-in) | 2.3 | 443 | ||
| Paul Williams (Independent) (Write-in) | 0.8 | 152 | ||
| Andrew Saylor (Independent) (Write-in) | 0.5 | 106 | ||
| Total votes: 19,402 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Johnnie Turner (R) (Unofficially withdrew)
- David Suhr (Independent) (Unofficially withdrew)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Kentucky State Senate District 29
Incumbent Johnnie Turner defeated Randy Thompson and Shawn Gilley in the Republican primary for Kentucky State Senate District 29 on May 21, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Johnnie Turner | 61.7 | 4,305 |
| Randy Thompson | 31.3 | 2,181 | ||
| Shawn Gilley | 7.0 | 491 | ||
| Total votes: 6,977 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Les Stapleton (R)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Turner in this election.
2020
See also: Kentucky State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Kentucky State Senate District 29
Johnnie Turner defeated incumbent Johnny Ray Turner in the general election for Kentucky State Senate District 29 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Johnnie Turner (R) | 53.4 | 22,475 |
 | Johnny Ray Turner (D) | 46.6 | 19,612 | |
| Total votes: 42,087 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Johnny Ray Turner advanced from the Democratic primary for Kentucky State Senate District 29.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Kentucky State Senate District 29
Johnnie Turner defeated Matthew Wynn in the Republican primary for Kentucky State Senate District 29 on June 23, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Johnnie Turner | 69.9 | 3,552 |
| Matthew Wynn | 30.1 | 1,527 | ||
| Total votes: 5,079 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
2016
Elections for the Kentucky House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on May 17, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was January 26, 2016.
Incumbent Fitz Steele defeated Kenneth Hall in the Kentucky House of Representatives District 84 Democratic primary.[4]
| Kentucky House of Representatives District 84, Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Fitz Steele Incumbent |
68.38% | 2,587 | |
| Democratic | Kenneth Hall | 31.62% | 1,196 | |
| Total Votes | 3,783 | |||
Chris Fugate ran unopposed in the Kentucky House of Representatives District 84 Republican primary.[5]
| Kentucky House of Representatives District 84, Republican Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Republican | Chris Fugate (unopposed) | |
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Johnnie Turner did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Johnnie Turner did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Kentucky scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
In 2024, the Kentucky State Legislature was in session from January 2 to April 15.
- Legislators are scored on their stances on conservative fiscal policy.
- Legislators from the Louisville area are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to family issues.
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Kentucky State Legislature was in session from January 3 to March 30.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Kentucky State Legislature was in session from January 4 to April 14.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Kentucky State Legislature was in session from January 5 to March 30.
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Noteworthy events
Fatal Accident (2024)
On September 15, 2024, Turner was critically injured in a lawnmower accident after driving the vehicle into an empty swimming pool at his home. [6]
Turner passed away from his injuries on October 22, 2024.[7]
The death of Turner on October 22, 2024, left Kentucky State Senate District 29 seat vacant fourteen days prior to the November 5, 2024, general election. Due to the proximity of the election, Turner still appeared on the general election ballot.[8]
As a result of Turner’s death and the withdrawal of challenger David Suhr (I) from the race on October 15, 2024, there were no additional candidates on the official general election ballot.
Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams (R) established an October 25, 2024, deadline to file as a write-in candidate for this seat in the November general election.[8]
If no write-in candidate files and the seat remains open after the general election, the Kentucky State Senate can call for a special election to fill the seat at the start of its legislative session in January 2025. [9]
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ CBS News, "Kentucky state Sen. Johnnie Turner dies after plunging into empty swimming pool on lawn mower," October 24, 2024
- ↑ Kentucky General Assembly, "Senator Johnnie Turner (R)," accessed January 13, 2021
- ↑ Commonwealth of Kentucky Michael G. Adams, Secretary of State, "November 5, 2024 Official 2024 General Election Results," accessed Januaey 7, 2025
- ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State, "Candidate Filings with the Office of the Secretary of State," accessed January 26, 2016
- ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State, "Candidate Filings with the Office of the Secretary of State," accessed January 26, 2016
- ↑ FOX10, “A Kentucky lawmaker has been critically injured in lawn mower accident" accessed September 23, 2024
- ↑ CBS News, "Kentucky state Sen. Johnnie Turner dies after plunging into empty swimming pool on lawn mower," October 24, 2024
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 ‘’Mountain News WYMT TV,’’ "What is next for Kentucky’s 29th Senate District?” October 24, 2024
- ↑ ‘’Lexington Herald Leader,’’ "KY Sen. Johnnie Turner dies after lawn mower accident last month in Harlan,” October 24, 2024
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Johnny Ray Turner (D) |
Kentucky State Senate District 29 2021-2024 |
Succeeded by - |
