Lanier spent months searching for a politician who could knock the 5-term Mayor Whitmire out of office but ultimately, he decided to do it himself. In the 1991 Houston Mayoral election, Lanier challenged Whitmire and won on the promise of putting more police on the streets, abandoning the METRO rail plan, and diverting transit funds into paving roads and sidewalks. Lanier was reelected in 1993 and 1995. Term limits prevented his candidacy in 1997, enacted in 1991 and reinforced in 1994 by a grass-roots citizen initiative spearheaded by the conservative political activist Clymer Wright. As mayor, he was affectionately referred to as "Mayor Bob."