Houston politics: Mayor John Whitmire’s $7 billion budget and voters’ changing attitudes

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — This Week in Texas, we’re digging into Houston Mayor John Whitmire’s $7 billion budget.

“We’re meeting our challenges in every department,” Whitmire told reporters when revealing his plan. “Yes, we’re reorganizing city government.”

ABC13 is also examining this month’s municipal elections to see if the results are a sign of things to come.

Eyewitness News’ political insiders, Democratic strategist Odus Evbagharu and Republican strategist Court Koenning, offer their perspectives.

We also spoke with the director of the Texas Politics Project about their new survey, which examines changing attitudes in the Lone Star State.

“I think we are seeing a resumption of a lot of skepticism writ large among Texas voters about government and what the governing class is doing,” said Dr. James Henson of the exhaustive new survey, which tackles issues and elected official popularity among Texans almost halfway through the year.

This Week in Texas, we’re looking at the numbers and what they mean.

For updates on this story, follow Tom Abrahams on Facebook, X and Instagram.

Missed an episode? Catch up on previous episodes of This Week in Texas here.