Texas State Rep. John Turner (D-Dallas) has decided not to run for a third term to represent the 114th District in the State House of Representatives once his term expires at the end of 2022.
Turner made the announcement on June 28.
“It is an honor to serve as the State Representative for District 114. I have decided not to seek a third term in 2022,” Turner wrote in a post on his Twitter page. “I am grateful to every person who has helped me have the opportunity to represent this district and serve the state of Texas.”
Turner said the time he’d need to spend on a campaign and work needed for another legislative session “are not comparable” with his personal life as a father and husband.
“Serving in the Legislature requires being away from home and in Austin for a significant portion of each two-year term. Campaigning also takes up many evenings and weekends. This is in addition to one’s regular job, which in my case is my law practice,” he wrote in the statement. “I have a wonderful wife who works full-time as a professor, and two wonderful sons, ages 14 and 11. The next few years are an important time to be involved with my family, and that is much harder when one is away as often as legislative service requires.”
Turner also said he’s committed to “fully representing” the district while serving the remainder of his current term and hopes to have other political opportunities in the future.
“I will do my best during those remaining months to apply good judgement and common sense to the matters before our state, which is what I believe I was elected to do,” he wrote in the statement.
Turner also thanked everyone who helped him represent the 114th District for four years.
According to his biography on the state House of Representative’s website, Turner was elected to represent District 114, which includes a large part of north central Dallas, in the 2018 midterms. An alum of both Harvard and Yale, he’s a practicing attorney.
Luisa del Rosal, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran against Turner in 2020, hinted at another run at the office the latter is about to vacate, The Texas Tribune reported.
