Orator, conscience, advocate: State lawmakers honor Sylvester Turner with bipartisan accolades in Capitol ceremony

Rep. Sylvester Turner was honored with a memorial service on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives where he served for nearly three decades before becoming mayor of Houston and then a Congressman. (Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune)

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An icon of Houston Democratic politics whose passionate oratory hushed the entire Texas House and inspired a Republican to promise to vote with him — but whose realism coached that Republican, a future House Speaker, to stick with his party.