Dominic Anthony Walsh
Houston Mayor John Whitmire shakes hands with an HPD cadet after announcing raises for officers.
In a stinging loss of a staunch ally, Houston Mayor John Whitmire will not receive the Houston Police Officers’ Union’s endorsement because he voted for an ordinance limiting the police department’s coordination with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Wednesday.
“I was blown away by that because originally he was with us and thought it was a horrible idea,” union president Douglas Griffith told Houston Public Media. “All we want to do is go out and do our jobs as police officers. We don’t care about the politics. But then, when the mayor signed off on it, it blew me away. I don’t support any of them that supported this. I just don’t. And moving forward, I will not support them.”
During the city council meeting Wednesday morning, Whitmire voted in favor of a measure prohibiting officers from detaining people or prolonging traffic stops due to civil immigration warrants.
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“Since President Trump was elected, we’ve all had to face his agenda,” Whitmire said during the meeting. “I have over a year ago said, ‘I’m sorry that we have to deal with it.’ [Immigration enforcement] basically is not a city responsibility.”
Whitmire framed the measure as “codifying,” rather than changing, HPD’s practices. The police union disagreed, pointing to a policy announced in March calling for officers to wait 30 minutes for ICE to respond after the department notifies the agency about civil immigration warrants.
The measure passed in a 12 to 5 vote.
Pressed for clarification about whether the union’s pledge to withhold endorsements included all the city council members as well as Whitmire, Griffith said, “That will include the mayor.”
The union endorsed Whitmire during his run against the late U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee early in 2023. The move was first reported in a segment by local television station Fox 26, in which political reporter Greg Groogan declared, “In the race to be Houston Mayor, few if any pronouncements of public support carry more weight than that delivered by the police officers’ union.”
Before Wednesday, Whitmire counted the police union as a staunch ally. Less than a year ago, Griffith and Whitmire stood side-by-side as they announced an $832 million contract, raising officer pay by more than 36% over five years.
At the time, Whitmire described the contract as the “best package in anyone’s memory.” Griffith said officers in Houston were supported “better than any city in this state and in this country.”
Dominic Anthony Walsh/Houston Public Media
Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz, right, and Houston Police Officers’ Union president Douglas Griffith speak at a Houston City Council meeting on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.
Over the past year — as a series of Houston Chronicle reports revealed ramped-up coordination between HPD and ICE, prompting backlash from many community members and advocacy groups — Whitmire defended the department’s approach to immigration enforcement matters. In May 2025, he gave Griffith a platform in the city council chambers to explain and defend his interpretation of the department’s policies.
“I think it’s potentially a rash overreaction by the police officers’ union,” said political scientist Mark Jones with Rice University. “Clearly, they oppose this adopted policy, but also Mayor Whitmire has been probably more in sync with them in terms of law enforcement than any mayor in recent memory.”
Looking ahead to the next round of municipal elections, Jones said, “The police officers’ union may very well find itself in 2027 with a situation where, among the credible alternatives to be mayor, John Whitmire is the one who is closest to them on policies regardless of this one difference today.”
It’s not the first endorsement-related blow to Whitmire’s coming campaign for a second term.
Related: Harris County Democratic Party reprimands Houston Mayor John Whitmire, withholds future endorsement
In December, the Harris County Democratic Party admonished Whitmire and withheld future endorsements over his attendance at a fundraiser for U.S. Congressman Dan Crenshaw, a Republican.
The party also criticized his handling of local immigration enforcement.
Whitmire, who served in the Texas Legislature as a Democrat for five decades, said at the time, “I strongly oppose the fear-based and harmful tactics used by ICE that tear families apart and undermine trust in our communities.”
Whitmire was a longtime chair of the Texas Senate’s criminal justice committee, where he built a reputation as “a tough-on-crime Democrat with deep ties to law enforcement,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor with the University of Houston. That reputation “became a core part of his political identity and a huge part of why he was getting support from conservatives in Houston.”
“This event definitely opens up space for challengers from both sides. The right flank will claim that Whitmire has lost the cops. The left flank will claim that he gave too much to police already,” Rottinghaus said. “The fact that John Whitmire has been caught in the middle of this means he’s got a two-front electoral problem.”
Whitmire’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the loss of the police union’s support.
Griffith said the union will also withhold endorsements from the eleven council members who supported the ordinance.