After years of losing battles with GOP leaders, some big city Texas mayors strike friendlier tone

John Whitmire, left, who was elected as Houston mayor last month, and Austin Mayor Kirk Watson are both former Texas lawmakers who have promised to mend their cities' strained relationship with the state. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune, Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune
After nearly a decade of high tensions between Republicans running the state and leaders of the state’s bluer urban areas, some mayors of major Texas cities are trying a new playbook: play nice with the state.
Republican lawmakers and local officials have little they haven’t fought about, sparring in recent years over matters like hurricane relief funds, local police budgets, voting access and COVID-19 response measures. After years of trying to undo local progressive policies they disagreed with, GOP legislators this year passed a sweeping law intended to block cities from enacting them in the first place.
To some, the contentiousness between city and state leaders hasn’t been productive for either side. In his successful bid for Houston mayor this year, John Whitmire, a longtime Democratic fixture in the Texas Senate, promised to mend the relationship between the state’s largest city and lawmakers in Austin.