Glenn Patterson Turner

Glenn Patterson Turner (May 4, 1889 – July 10, 1975) was a lawyer from Milwaukee who served one term as a Socialist Party of America member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Background Turner was born on May 4, 1889, in Stockbridge, Wisconsin. He attended the public schools of the various places where his father served as a Methodist minister. He became interested in socialism as a boy, through the influence of his Sunday school teacher, a German iron moulder, who started him reading Socialist literature. He joined the Socialist Party as soon as he was permitted to join (the age of 18). He graduated in 1909 from North Division High School (Milwaukee), and attended the University of Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School, and was admitted to the Wisconsin bar in 1916. He then returned to Milwaukee to practice. Later in life he was a strong proponent of Esperanto. He died on July 10, 1975, at a nursing home in Black Earth, Wisconsin.

He did not run for re-election in 1918, but was succeeded by fellow Socialist and lawyer Edwin Knappe, who like Turner was a member of the law firm of Kleist, Harriman & Knappe.

Attorney General campaign In 1930, Turner was the Socialist candidate for state Attorney General; he came in third in a five-way race, with 6.4% of the vote (35,169 out of 551,563).

State supreme court campaigns Turner unsuccessfully ran for seats on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1936 and 1937.

Governor campaign Turner unsuccessfully ran for governor of Wisconsin in 1938.