Joe Turnham (born October 28, 1959 in
Lee County, Alabama) is a United States politician who chaired the
Alabama Democratic Party from 2005 to 2011.
Family and education
Turnham and his family reside in
Auburn
Auburn may refer to:
Places Australia
* Auburn, New South Wales
* City of Auburn, the local government area
*Electoral district of Auburn
*Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region
*Auburn, South Australia
*Auburn, Tasmania
*Aub ...
, and he is the son of
Pete Turnham, a retired educator and a former member of the
Alabama House of Representatives
The Alabama State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with each constituency contai ...
.
He attended
Samford University
Samford University is a private Christian university in Homewood, Alabama. In 1841, the university was founded as Howard College by Baptists. Samford University describes itself as the 87th oldest institution of higher learning in the United Sta ...
in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, but transferred to and later graduated from
Auburn University
Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...
in 1981 with a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
degree in
Business Administration
Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...
. Upon graduation he joined "Alabama Contract Sales, Incorporated," the family business.
Joe is an accomplished consultant and business development specialist who works with companies and organizations all over the world.
Community activism
Turnham has served on civic boards and has been active in church. While President of the Auburn
Kiwanis Club
Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. Since 1987, the organizatio ...
he was named Kiwanian of the Year. He also served in the Auburn Chamber of Commerce, Lee County
Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a Ch ...
,
Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Lee County. Turnham is a founding board member of Land Trust of East Alabama, board member of the Chattowah Alabama Land Trust, Vice-Chair of Redeem the Vote and board member of
Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu () is an undergraduate Fraternities and sororities in North America, college fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute on January 1, 1869. The fraternity was founded by James Frank Hopkins, Greenfield Quarles and James McIlva ...
Fraternity
A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, "wiktionary:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal ...
House Corporation.
Turnham has participated as a lay missioner to Venezuela and in various leadership capacities in Trinity
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...
in
Opelika
Opelika (pronounced ) is a city in and the county seat of Lee County in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of Opelika is ...
. Joe was also the local Lee County Democratic Club President and the Lee County Democratic Party Chairman.
Political career
As one of the youngest people to ever serve in the position, Turnham was elected Chairman of the
Alabama Democratic Party in October 1995 and served through most of 1998.
In his first bid for elected public office in 1998, Turnham was Democratic nominee for the 3rd District's U.S. Congressional seat against incumbent U.S. Congressman
Bob Riley. Turnham lost the race with 42% of all votes cast. Five newspapers endorsed him.
In 2002, Turnham was again the party nominee for the 3rd District's U.S. Congressional seat running against Republican
Mike Rogers. This campaign became especially negative as the Rogers campaign provided a phone number in a television ad and encouraged voters to "Call Joe Turnham and tell him he's too liberal for Alabama". Neck and neck in the polls, a well timed visit from U.S. President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
campaigning on behalf of Rogers a week before the election was able to give Rogers the boost he needed to eventually win the election with only 50.31% of the vote.
In 2005, Turnham was again elected Chair of the Alabama Democratic Party filling the term of Redding Pitt who had resigned.
Turnham was unopposed for re-election to a full term as party chair. On January 20, 2007 he was unanimously re-elected by the State Democratic Executive Committee to a term that runs through 2011.
He is also a member of the Board of Directors of
Democrats for Life of America.
Media and party recognition
For 31 months he was a member of the
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...
in
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
. He has been featured in state and national news publications including The ''National Journal'' and a January 1998 front page spread in the ''
Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
''. He has also appeared on several nationally syndicated programs including the ''
Oliver North Show''. Most recently he founded Conservation Alabama, originally called the Alabama League of Environmental Action Voters (AlaLEAVs), as a political arm for Alabama's environmental movement.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turnham, Joe
1959 births
Living people
Samford University alumni
Auburn University alumni
People from Auburn, Alabama
Auburn High School (Alabama) alumni
Alabama Democrats
Alabama Democratic Party chairs