Who holds this office?
John Whitmire is the current officeholder.
The official roster identifies John Whitmire as the current holder but does not publish term dates. Electionpedia leaves those fields blank rather than estimating them.
Local public office · official government record
Mayor
Houston, TexasCurrent holder: John Whitmire
What this office actually does
City Mayor: powers, limits, and control
Provides city executive leadership, but the actual job ranges from a strong administrator to a primarily ceremonial presiding officer depending on the charter.
COMMONLY CAN
Carry out or supervise city policy when the charter grants executive authority.
DOES NOT CONTROL ALONE
Assume every city department reports to the mayor; council-manager systems may place administration with a professional manager.
Official roster fields
Mayor record
- Current holder
- John Whitmire
- Office
- Mayor
- Term began
- Not published in roster
- Term ends
- Not published in roster
- Official office
- Open official website ↗
Reading guideLocal government
How to interpret this record
John Whitmire — Mayor, Houston
Local government is a collection of institutions with different boundaries and responsibilities. A municipality, school district and special district can serve overlapping places without being the same organization.
Map the institution, not just the city name
A mailing address can sit inside several governmental boundaries. A county, municipality, school district and special-purpose body may each make different decisions. The Census of Governments provides a structured way to identify governmental units; a unit’s existence does not automatically tell you who currently holds each seat or when its next election occurs.
Distinguish a directory from a live roster
An institutional directory describes organizations. An official roster describes people connected to offices at a stated time. These sources may be published by different agencies on different schedules. Electionpedia links the institution and the person when the evidence supports a match, while preserving the distinction between the source’s reference year and the latest date the file was checked.
Read the full local government guide →