Mayoral Candidate Turner Earns Support of Pastors, Vows No Campaign Counter Attack For Now

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Within Mt. Sinai Baptist Church mayoral frontrunner Sylvester Turner extended a powerful rebuttal to any suggesting he lacked backing among leaders of faith.

Gathered on this morning in support - two dozen of the more than 130 pastors supporting his campaign.

"I have to have a moral compass when I am straying too far to the left or to the right. I don't think I could have asked for the support of the pastors who are with me today if my journey, my walk, was not consistent with my faith," said Turner.

With that guidance Turner hopes to tackle a city's simmering tension and mistrust with ministers as critical intermediaries between hard pressed police and the communities they serve.

"When so much of this has been made to be about race Sylvester Turner knows how and has his hands in both communities, to pull us all together," said Bishop James Dixon of The Community of Faith Church.

Turner says this coalition of cops and men of the cloth is made more probable by the deep support he's been offered by police associations, all of which are backing his campaign.

"Building bridges between police and the community has never been more important than it is today. Sylvester Turner, our next Mayor, is the prime person we need right now to build those bridges together," said Eric Fagan of the African American Police Officers League.

Under attack from opponents looking to gain ground in the final six weeks, the longtime state lawmaker says he'll stick with his instinct and refrain from striking back.

"People will go to any depths to win, but that doesn't mean that I have to go there. I think my record is strong enough and solid enough that I don't really need to tear anybody else down to build me up," said Turner.