Steve Adler

Steve Adler
Nationality	American
Occupation	Politician, attorney
Title	52nd Mayor of Austin, Texas
Known for	Mayor of Austin, Texas (2015–2023)

Steve Adler is an American attorney and politician who served as the 52nd Mayor of Austin, Texas, from January 2015 to January 2023. Over the course of his two terms in office, Adler presided over one of the most transformative periods in Austin's modern history, navigating rapid population growth, an escalating affordability crisis, sweeping transportation investments, and the public health challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. A practicing attorney before entering politics, Adler ran for mayor on a platform emphasizing economic opportunity, middle-class job creation, and urban planning reform. His tenure saw Austin emerge as one of the fastest-growing major cities in the United States, attracting major corporate relocations and technology sector expansion, while simultaneously grappling with rising housing costs and displacement of long-term residents. Since leaving office in 2023, Adler has continued to engage with public policy discussions concerning the city's trajectory.

Career

Entry into Politics and First Term as Mayor

Steve Adler was elected Mayor of Austin in November 2014, taking office in January 2015. His candidacy centered on addressing Austin's growing affordability challenges and reworking economic development incentives to prioritize the creation of middle-class jobs. One of his notable campaign promises involved restructuring the city's incentive programs so that they would reward companies for creating positions that paid livable, middle-class wages rather than simply adding jobs of any pay level.

During his first term, Adler worked to position Austin as both a center of technological innovation and a city that could retain its cultural identity. Austin was already known for its live music scene, its annual South by Southwest festival, and a general ethos of independence, but rapid growth was putting pressure on these characteristics. Adler sought to balance the demands of growth with efforts to preserve affordability and quality of life for existing residents.

According to PolitiFact's tracking of his campaign commitments, Adler stepped up efforts during his time in office to address the affordability crisis through programs designed to drive up wages, moving his promise regarding middle-class job incentives from a "stalled" status to an active one.

Second Term and Major Challenges

Adler won re-election and continued to serve as mayor through a period of significant change and disruption. His second term was defined in large part by the COVID-19 pandemic, which presented enormous governance challenges for cities across the United States. In Austin, Adler led the city's response, which included public health directives, economic relief measures, and coordination with state and county officials.

However, Adler faced public criticism in December 2020 when it was reported that he had hosted his daughter's wedding and subsequently traveled to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, at a time when he was urging Austin residents to stay home and limit gatherings to slow the spread of COVID-19. The trip drew significant media attention and accusations of hypocrisy. Adler subsequently issued a public apology in an open letter, acknowledging that the trip was inconsistent with the message he had been delivering to Austin residents about the importance of following public health guidelines during the pandemic.

The incident became one of the most widely covered controversies of Adler's tenure. Critics pointed to the disconnect between his public messaging on COVID-19 safety measures and his personal conduct, while supporters noted his subsequent transparency in addressing the matter. The controversy was part of a broader national pattern in which elected officials at various levels of government faced scrutiny for personal behavior that appeared to contradict their own pandemic guidance.

Final State of the City Address

In August 2022, as his time in office drew to a close, Adler delivered his final "State of the City" address. The speech provided a capstone assessment of his administration's accomplishments and the ongoing challenges facing Austin. The address touched on issues including the city's growth trajectory, investments in public transportation infrastructure, efforts to address homelessness, and the continuing affordability pressures that had been a central focus of his entire tenure.

The final address served as both a retrospective on Adler's eight years in office and a statement of the unfinished work that would pass to his successor. Adler had presided over significant shifts in Austin's demographics, economy, and physical landscape during his two terms, a period in which the city became one of the most prominent examples of the Sun Belt urban boom that reshaped American metropolitan geography in the 2010s and early 2020s.

Economic Development and Affordability

Throughout his time as mayor, Adler placed significant emphasis on addressing Austin's affordability crisis, which accelerated dramatically during his tenure as the city's population surged and housing costs rose sharply. His approach involved multiple strategies, including reworking economic incentive programs, investing in workforce development, and advocating for increased housing supply.

PolitiFact tracked Adler's progress on his campaign promise to rework incentives so they rewarded the creation of middle-class jobs. The tracking noted that Adler had been "stepping up his efforts to address Austin's affordability crisis with programs to drive up wages," suggesting that while progress was made, the issue remained an ongoing challenge rather than one that could be fully resolved within the scope of a single mayoral administration.

The tension between economic growth and affordability became one of the defining policy debates of Adler's tenure. Austin attracted major corporate investments and relocations during his time in office, including the decision by several large technology companies to expand their presence in the city. These developments brought economic benefits but also contributed to rising costs of living, displacement of lower-income residents, and changes in the character of established neighborhoods.

Post-Mayoral Activities

After leaving office in January 2023, Adler has continued to engage with public discourse concerning Austin's development and governance. In a June 2025 interview, he reflected on the city's progress and the challenges it continued to face since the end of his tenure. Adler discussed the trajectory of issues he had worked on during his time as mayor, including transportation, housing, and economic development, offering his perspective on how the city had continued to evolve under new leadership.

Adler's post-mayoral reflections have addressed both the achievements and the limitations of his time in office. He has spoken about the difficulty of governing a rapidly growing city in which demand for housing, infrastructure, and public services consistently outpaced the capacity of local government to respond. The interview indicated that Adler remained actively engaged with policy questions affecting Austin and the broader Central Texas region.

Personal Life

Public details about Adler's personal life are limited. It is known that he has at least one daughter, whose wedding in late 2020 became the subject of public attention when it was reported in connection with his subsequent trip to Mexico during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adler practiced law before entering politics, and his legal career provided the professional foundation for his transition into public service. Details about his specific legal practice, including areas of specialization and notable cases, are not extensively documented in available sources.

Recognition

Adler's tenure as mayor received significant attention both within Texas and nationally. As the leader of one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States during a period of dramatic change, his administration's policies were frequently examined by state and national media outlets. PolitiFact maintained an "Adler-O-Meter" to track his campaign promises, a level of scrutiny typically reserved for prominent elected officials.

His final State of the City address in August 2022 was covered by multiple Austin-area news outlets, reflecting the public interest in his assessment of the city's trajectory as he prepared to leave office after eight years.

Adler's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, including both his leadership in implementing public health measures and the controversy surrounding his December 2020 trip to Mexico, received extensive coverage from local and national media.

Legacy

Steve Adler served as Mayor of Austin during a period of transformation that reshaped the city's economic profile, demographic composition, and national reputation. When he took office in 2015, Austin was already experiencing rapid growth, but over the subsequent eight years, the pace and scale of change accelerated considerably. His tenure coincided with Austin's emergence as a major destination for corporate relocation and technology sector expansion, developments that brought both economic opportunities and significant governance challenges.

Adler's emphasis on affordability, middle-class job creation, and economic incentive reform reflected an effort to ensure that the benefits of growth were distributed more broadly across the city's population. Whether these efforts were sufficient to counteract the displacement and cost-of-living pressures that accompanied Austin's boom remains a subject of ongoing debate among policymakers, urban planners, and residents.

The challenges Adler faced—including the tension between growth and affordability, the governance demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the complexities of managing a city undergoing rapid transformation—were not unique to Austin but were emblematic of issues confronting many American cities during the same period. His administration's responses to these challenges have continued to shape policy discussions in Austin and have served as case studies for other rapidly growing metropolitan areas.

In reflecting on his time in office after leaving the mayoralty, Adler has acknowledged both the progress made and the work that remained unfinished, characterizing the trajectory of a growing city as inherently ongoing and iterative rather than resolvable within the term limits of any single administration.

Disambiguation

Steve Adler should not be confused with Steven Adler (born 1965), the American musician who served as the drummer for the rock band Guns N' Roses from 1985 to 1990. Steven Adler, the musician, has been the subject of separate media coverage regarding his career with Guns N' Roses and his exclusion from the band's 2016 reunion tour.

Additionally, the name Steve Adler is shared by other individuals in public life, including a candidate for the Portsmouth, New Hampshire School Board in 2025.