Since then, Turner has been more of a free agent on international affairs, sometimes using the Sunday national TV talk shows to criticize the Trump administration on a number of foreign policy questions.
“The President has not been clear and he has not certainly been communicating with Congress,” Turner said recently on ABC’s “This Week,” joining other lawmakers in raising questions about possible U.S. military action against Venezuela, and expressing worries about attacks on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean Sea.
“This is not necessarily the normal rules of engagement,” Turner said. “Members are very concerned.”
Throughout 2025, Turner continued to cross swords with the White House over U.S. aid to Ukraine, repeatedly chiding those Republicans who want to go easy on Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“You cannot be America First and pro-Russia,” Turner said in late November.
Turner went to Ukraine again in September, once more walking the fine line between supporting President Trump’s efforts at peace while also urging a tougher stance against the Russian invasion.
“I think that Ukraine is doing much better than we hear here in Washington. But also, I think there you get really the sense that we need to strengthen our support for Ukraine,” Turner said after his visit.
Like many other Republicans, Turner has expressed support for stronger sanctions against Putin and Russia, but the Miami Valley Republican has not taken the next step — of signing a discharge petition in Congress to force that issue to the House floor.
But on domestic policy matters, Turner did take the “next step” a few times in 2025, putting himself directly at odds with the White House.
While Turner supported measures like a bill renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, the Dayton Republican balked at initial GOP budget-cutting plans which targeted federal workers.
“I believe that making changes to pension retirement benefits in the middle of someone’s employment is wrong,” Turner said as he voted against the plan in the House Oversight Committee.
Despite pressure from GOP leaders and the White House, Turner held fast and forced the provisions to be dropped from the final version of the “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
“It was important to me to ensure that they not raid pensions for federal workers,” Turner said.
Turner also twice voted against White House plans to enact $9 billion in DOGE budget cuts, as one of those votes produced a somewhat surreal scene just off the House floor.
While GOP leaders furiously lobbied rebel Republicans to switch their votes, no one tried to twist the arm of Turner, who refused to even confirm to reporters that he had voted against the DOGE package.
“I’m not talking to you,” the Dayton Republican said numerous times with a smile, as Turner fended off questions in the Speaker’s Lobby just off the House floor.
Turner’s other notable break with GOP leaders came after Thanksgiving, when he was one of 20 House Republicans who voted to overturn one of President Trump’s executive orders that took away collective bargaining rights from over a million federal workers.
Turner supported that plan after a small group of Republicans helped force action by supporting a discharge petition, the same process that will bring about a House vote in January related to the expiring health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.
Turner has not expressed support for bipartisan plans to extend those subsidies; he did vote for a separate GOP health bill which did not extend that health insurance aid.
No matter Turner’s policy choices in 2025, political handicappers in the nation’s capital still see the Ohio Republican as a strong favorite to win a 13th term in the House, even if the 2026 midterm election terrain favors Democrats nationally.
“He is a really tough target,” said Erin Covey, who analyzes U.S. House races for the Cook Political Report in Washington, D.C.
“I don’t think he has too much to worry about, even in a good year for Democrats,” Covey said about the idea of defeating Turner in 2026. “There’s been rumors that he may retire this cycle. But I think with Turner in the seat, it would be pretty tough.”
Turner’s office did not respond to a request for an interview for this story.
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