New District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte was sworn into office Thursday, a day after outgoing Councilman Clayton Perry officially signed off after six years representing the Northside district.
Perry had represented District 10 since 2019, but decided not to seek a fourth and final term while facing charges of driving while intoxicated and fleeing an accident late last year. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 12 months of deferred adjudication.
“I spent my last day on Council reflecting on the momentous six years we had,” Perry wrote in a tweet Wednesday where he’s shown on the steps of City Hall. “To all our neighbors, friends, city staff, and loved ones, thank you for an incredible ride. I am forever grateful. This is your fellow neighbor signing out.”
Both Perry and Whyte attended a State of the County event Wednesday, where business leaders were already eager to recognize Whyte as a new ally on the council.
District 10 is the only council district that’s reliably elected conservatives in recent years. Perry was frequently the lone “no” vote in his six years on the dais.
Whyte was District 10’s zoning commissioner before running for council. He ran unsuccessfully in the 2018 Republican primary for Texas House District 121 when former House Speaker Joe Straus retired.
With Perry’s endorsement, Whyte took almost 58% of the vote in the May 6 election, defeating a field of six other candidates.
On Wednesday, Whyte was sworn in alongside seven returning incumbents before attending his first council meeting.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg was sworn in separately for his final term. Two remaining council seats, in District 1 and District 7, will be decided in a June 10 runoff.
“It was a little bit surreal waking up this morning knowing that I was heading down here,” Whyte told reporters after Thursday’s meeting. “But again, this is something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while.”
Whyte said he has spent the weeks since the election meeting with council colleagues, including one of the council’s most outspoken progressives, Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2).
“I joked that I was worried he’d be like Clayton but with more energy,” said McKee-Rodriguez, who had drinks with Whyte at LadyBird Beer Garden. “A lot of folk don’t realize how similar many parts of District 10 are to District 2. I think we’ll have an opportunity to collaborate largely on infrastructure and housing around our border.”
Whyte has named Raul Ubides, Perry’s former District 10 policy director, as his chief of staff.
Asked whether he plans to continue Perry’s legacy as the lone dissenter, Whyte said he’s hoping to find more consensus.
“That’s not what I’m here to do. I’m here to work with these other folks and try to find six votes for the things that we want to get done,” Whyte said.
Among his top priorities, Whyte said, were increasing the homestead exemption and adding more police officers — ideas Nirenberg also supports.
On a recent state policy issue his colleagues feel particularly strongly about, however, Whyte is already drawing a contrast.
The current City Council is united against a super-preemption bill crafted by state Rep. Dustin Burrows, a Lubbock lawyer who is a friend of Whyte’s.
HB 2127 would restrict the city from regulating some major policy areas unless expressly permitted by the state. City leaders traveled to Austin to fight the bill, which is headed to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
“I just don’t subscribe to the doom and gloom theory here that some of the others seem to believe,” Whyte said. “The city is going to be able to operate just as it should, even with the bill in place.”
