Mike Turner

Turner was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2002.

Turner received 58% of the vote following the retirement of 23-year incumbent Democrat Tony P. Hall from Congress after Hall was named U. N. Special Envoy for Hunger Issues by President George W. Bush. Earlier that year, Turner won the Republican nomination when he decisively defeated Roy Brown with 80% of the vote. Brown was the son and grandson of a former area Republican Congressmen Bud Brown and Clarence J. Brown and operated a local newspaper company named Brown Publishing. In the general election, Turner defeated Congressman Tony Hall’s chief of staff, Rick Carne, after Carne won the nomination to succeed his former boss. Turner got a substantial assist from the 2000s round of redistricting. The old 7th had been a fairly compact district centered on Dayton. However, redistricting added some Republican-leaning suburbs to the east.

In 2004, Turner defeated former businesswoman Jane Mitakides with over 62% of the vote. The district was considered a key area in the swing state of Ohio in that year’s presidential race.

In 2006, the Democrats planned to target Turner for defeat. Three Democrats entered the Third District Primary to run against Turner in the general election. Veterinarian Stephanie Studebaker defeated local bankruptcy attorney David Fierst and recalled Waynesville Mayor Charles W. Sanders. Studebaker had previously affiliated with former Vermont Governor Howard Dean’s Presidential campaign in Ohio during the 2004 race. After winning the nomination, Studebaker and her husband Sam were both arrested for domestic violence.[9] Studebaker subsequently dropped out of the race citing her family concerns and impending legal issues. Following Studebaker’s withdrawal, four Democrats entered a special election primary to face Turner, eventually settling on former Assistant United States Attorney Richard Chema. Turner defeated Chema with 58% of the vote.

Jane Mitakides beat Sanders in a primary in 2008 and faced Turner in a rematch from 2004. Turner again focused largely on economic issues of job creation and protection for workers impacted by the national and regional recession. In a difficult political climate for Republicans, Turner defeated Mitakides with 64% of the vote, his largest margin of victory in any election.

Turner was challenged by first time Democratic nominee 25 year old Joe Roberts in the general election and won with 68 percent of the vote.

After redistricting, Turner's district was renumbered as the 10th district. It absorbed much of the neighboring 7th district, represented by fellow Republican Steve Austria. The district was made significantly more compact than its predecessor, absorbing all of Dayton.

It initially looked like Turner would face Austria in a primary.[10] However, Austria dropped out of the race, handing the nomination to Turner.[11] Turner then went on to defeat Democratic attorney Sharon Neuhardt with 60 percent of the vote.

He was challenged in the 2020 Republican primary by Kathi Flanders. In 2018, Turner defeated another primary challenger 80% to 9%.[12]

Earlier congressional portrait of Turner

Turner is currently a member of the Armed Services and Government Reform committees. In 2009, he was named Ranking Member on the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the United States House Committee on Armed Services.

In November 2002, Turner was elected to Congress, succeeding Democrat Tony Patrick Hall, who had been appointed by President Bush to the UN. After taking office, in January 2003 Turner was appointed to the Armed Services Committee, a position he has used to advocate for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base located in his district, and to the Government Reform Committee.

Due to his urban background, focus on the economic redevelopment of cities, and service as Dayton’s mayor, Turner is sometimes described as an "urban Republican". Recognizing Turner's work on urban development, then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert appointed Turner as Chairman of the Saving America’s Cities working group. The group was formed to work with the Administration to "foster economic development and redevelopment and streamline government services in America's cities to help them prosper and grow." [13]

During the 109th Congress, Turner served on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, in addition to his work on his two other committees, the House Armed Services and Government Reform Committees.

Serving on the Armed Services Committee, Turner had advocated for an expansion to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, providing testimony to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC). This effort proved successful in 2008, when the Air Force announced that 1,000 jobs and over $230 million in federal funding would move to Wright-Patterson AFB. Turner has said that this is the largest single investment in Wright-Patterson since World War II.[14]

In 2006, the Dayton Development Coalition (DDC), a non-profit and nominally non-partisan group (though most of the trustees have contributed to Turner's campaigns) which advocates for federal funds for economic development in the Miami Valley,[15] began a regional branding campaign. Turner's wife's company Turner Effect was awarded a contract without competitive bidding to conduct the marketing research associated with the campaign.[16][17] In April 2008, Turner Effect withdrew from the branding implementation contract after more details of the agreement became public, including details about the more than $300,000 awarded to her company.[18]

The DDC said that its members were "unanimous" in their decision that there was "no conflict [of interest]" in their having chosen Turner's company, but watchdog groups and media reports raised concerns about a possible conflict of interest.[16][19]

In the same year, Turner's campaign committee Citizens for Turner contracted with his wife's firm, Turner Effect, for professional services, such as the production of literature.[20]

On July 7, 2008, Turner wrote an op-ed in the Hillsboro Times-Gazette in support of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, referred to as the GI Bill.[21] In May of that year, Turner opposed an earlier version of the GI Bill. Turner has been endorsed by the Veterans of Foreign Wars PAC.

In October 2008, Turner joined then Senator Hillary Clinton, First Lady Laura Bush, Senator Pete Domenici and Rep. Brad Miller to announce the introduction of bipartisan legislation that would permanently authorize two historic preservation grant programs.[22] The House bill, H.R. 3981, would permanently authorize the programs known as "Save America’s Treasures," established by the Clinton Administration, and "Preserve America," established by the Bush Administration. The bill was introduced in the House by Turner and Miller as co-chairs of the Congressional Historic Preservation Caucus and in the Senate by Clinton and Domenici.[23] The two grant programs are complementary. Preserve America supports "community efforts to demonstrate sustainable uses of their historic and cultural sites, focusing on economic and educational opportunities related to heritage tourism." The Save America's Treasures grant program, "funds "bricks-and-mortar" projects, by helping local communities develop sustainable resource management strategies and sound business practices for the continued preservation and use of heritage assets." [24]

In June 2009, Turner introduced H.J. Res 57, the "Preserving Capitalism in America" amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment, which has 104 cosponsors in the House, would prohibit the United States government from owning any stock in corporations.[25] The amendment did not become law.

In February 2010, Turner released a report on "The Impact of the Housing Crisis on Local Communities and the Federal Response" in conjunction with the Northeast-Midwest Institute and the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition.[26] The report included testimony and proposals from local Dayton community leaders such as Commissioner Dean Lovelace and Miami Valley Fair Housing Center CEO Jim McCarthy, who participated in an August 2009 housing and foreclosure crisis forum in Dayton.[27] Turner has indicated he will offer legislation based on the recommendations of the report.

Turner voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 and in the coming years repeatedly voted for its repeal. He opposed the "$1 trillion government takeover of our nation’s health care system" because it will "increase budget deficits and decrease the quality of our health care services," Turner said.[28]

Turner has been highly critical of the Obama Administration's Phased Adaptive Approach[29] and Nuclear Posture Review regarding the protection and defense of the U.S. and allies.[30]

In 2012, Turner called for a missile defense site on the east coast of the United States, to defend against missiles that would be launched from Iran. The east coast site would be the third such site, joining two others on the west coast that are designed to defend against an attack from North Korea.[31]

In 2016, Turner was re-elected as the representative of Ohio's 10th Congressional District.

In 2018, Turner was re-elected as the representative of Ohio's 10th Congressional District. This time he was named to the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

After the Dayton shooting in August 2019, Turner announced he would back legislation barring the "sale of military-style weapons to civilians," and also said he would support a limit on magazines and the creation of legislation that would keep guns from people deemed dangerous by the police. He had previously "generally backed gun-rights measures during his nine terms in the House," earning a 93% approval rating from the National Rifle Association in prior years.[32] Turner's daughter had been across the street from the attack.[32][33] In 2018 and 2019 he "led the Ohio congressional delegation... in advocating to bring the F-35 program" to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which happened in May 2019.[34] As of May 2019, he was the top Republican on the House Armed Service’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee.[35] In April 2019, he created a panel to "independently review" the water quality in the Dayton, Ohio area.[36]

Turner was one of three Ohio Republicans who were appointed to an Intelligence Committee that examined whether Trump had withheld aid to Ukraine improperly.[37] He stated the conversation between Trump and the Ukrainian president was "not ok," also saying the general impeachment was an "assault" on the electorate.[38] On November 19, 2019, his questioning of witnesses in the impeachment inquiry was praised by Donald Trump in a tweet.[39]

• Committee on Intelligence
• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces Former Chairman
  • Subcommittee on Strategic Forces

• House Baltic Caucus[40]
• Tuesday Group[41]
• Former Mayor’s Caucus
• Historic Preservation Caucus
• Real Estate Caucus
• Urban Caucus
• Census Caucus
• Romanian Congressional Caucus

• Saving America’s Cities Working Group, Founder and Chairman
• House Republican Policy Committee’s Task Force on Urban Revitalization, Chairman
• Congressional Manufacturing Task Force
• Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition Revitalizing Older Cities Task Force, Co-Chairman