Former Texas Sen. John Whitmire was officially sworn in as Houston’s new mayor by Harris County Justice of the Peace Victor Trevino III one minute after midnight on Monday.
Whitmire became the 63rd mayor of Houston during a private ceremony where he stated, “We have a great city, great people, and we need to do everything we can to see that Houston goes forward and even becomes greater.”
“To explain our vision for the city of Houston, it’s to have total transparency, to share with Houston what I see as a mayor,” he said, according to Click 2 Houston.
Whitmire has already stated that managing crime is one of his biggest priorities, claiming that Houston has “serious issues with public safety,” and he said he plans to work with other police departments.
“We need additional officers. We need to collaborate,” stated Whitmire, per ABC 13.
“I’ll go ahead and announce tonight that the chief has already done an outstanding job of following one of my commitments to a collaborative effort. We are going to meet Thursday morning at 10 with area chiefs.”
Whitmire also went on a ride along to visit crime scenes with Houston Police Department Chief Troy Finner shortly after being sworn in, adding in a press release that “officers are fired up to work for Chief Finner and Mayor Whitmire.”
Although Whitmire’s tenure is just beginning, Houston Police Officers’ Union President Douglas Griffith has already expressed his support for the new mayor.
“There are a lot of things going on, a lot of moving parts,” he said to ABC 13.
“It’s going to be tough for a new mayor to come in and get everything fixed in one day, but we know that over time, I believe he’s the right guy for the job.”
Whitmire was elected as the new mayor of Houston when he defeated U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) during a runoff election after neither candidate accumulated the minimum 50% of votes needed to win in the November election.
“Great cities solve their problems. Together, we can solve our problems. The first way you solve your problem is admit you have one. And I don’t mind telling folks what a great city we have, but we’ve got great challenges,” said Whitmire at his victory party, as reported by NPR.
“It’ll be an opportunity to show the nation what the city of Houston can do. We will not kick our can down the road any longer.”