The one difference is that Austin does have, for now, some ADULT SUPERVISION, which is not true of California cities.
When Austin goes too far left, such as trying to drive out Uber/Lyft or registering guns, then the state steps in and says, “sorry, no dice”. Right now the state is trying to deal with Austin’s self-manufactured ‘homeless crisis’. It’s a new area for the state to go into, so it’s taking a while...but the state certainly knows what’s up, since Austin is also the state capital.
And the above is good and fine as long as Texas as a whole remains Republican. Should that change, things here will get ugly, very ugly, and it will happen very fast.
“good and fine as long as Texas as a whole remains Republican”
Rep/Dem presidential candidate
1988 55/43
1992 40/37
1996 48/43
2000 59/37
2004 61/38
2008 55/43
2012 57/41
2016 52/43
Republican won by 12, 3, 5, 12, 23, 12, 16, 9. Toss out the high and low, and the average is around 12, which is uncomfortable.
And then, demographics...
(Nevertheless, we’d all rather be in Texas than in CA.)