Kentucky State Senator Passes Away After Tragic Accident

The state of Kentucky is reeling today after the death of state Senator Johnnie L. Turner.

Last month, Turner had a horrible accident, falling into a pool while on his riding mower.

According to reports, he died on Tuesday evening resulting from complications from that accident.

He’s Gone

Driving into the pool was bad enough, but the fact the pool had been emptied led to even more severe injuries for the 76-year-old Republican.

Turner, a former Army medic and attorney, started his political career in 1999.

Turner has been in national headlines for his battles with Democrats for pro-coal legislation.

Kentucky, like many states, is reliant on fossil fuels for its state economy, and Kentucky had taken a considerable hit.

Because his death is so close to the election, his name will still appear on the ballot, and he is likely to win the race.

There was no Democrat running for office and the independent candidate recently dropped out.

We have seen posthumously elected candidates in the past, who have be replaced by an appointment or a special election after the fact.

In this case, the state is expected to hold a special election if write-in candidates lose to the former Senator.

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers stated, “Over the past weeks, his remarkable resolve and strength filled the Turner family — and all of us — with optimism, making this loss all the more difficult to bear,” Stivers said of Turner’s death.

“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.”

“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.”

Turner is survived by his wife and three children.