Four months after winning re-election as a Democrat, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson says he's switching parties.

Only four months after winning re-election as a longtime Democrat, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson announced that he was defecting to the Republican party. Before assuming office, Johnson served nearly a decade in the Texas Legislature as a Democrat — making his decision to switch parties all the more shocking.

On Friday, Johnson announced his decision in an 0p-ed in the Wall Street Journal. “Today I am changing my party affiliation,” wrote Johnson. “Next spring, I will be voting in the Republican primary. When my career in elected office ends in 2027 on the inauguration of my successor as mayor, I will leave office as a Republican.”

In his op-ed, Johnson says that he won 98.7% of the vote in his re-election. Although it’s worth noting that was when he was running as a registered Democrat in a county that President Joe Biden overwhelmingly carried. The mayoral position is technically non-partisan, but it’s hard to argue that running as a registered Democrat in a deep-blue county didn’t have some impact on the vote.

Johnson criticized Democratic leadership, arguing that Democratic mayors (of which he was one until a few hours ago) have allowed cities to crumble into “disarray” and lawlessness. Johnson also pats himself on the back for standing up against the defund the police movement.

Johnson paints a picture of Democratic Mayors that is wholly incongruent with the state of play in blue cities. New York City’s Democratic Mayor, Eric Adams, is literally a former cop. And D.C.’s Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser has fought tooth and nail to prevent criminal justice reforms from going into effect.

He isn’t the only southern Democrat to defect to the Republican party in a dramatic fashion. In July, Georgia State Representative Mesha Mainor announced that she was switching to the Republican. Mainor, who served in a deep-blue Atlanta district, defended her decision by arguing that she was pushed out of the Democratic party. Mainor was criticized by Georgia Democrats but welcomed with open arms by folks like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene, who applauded her decision to move parties.

As for Johnson, there will surely be a ton of backlash, but maybe, like Mainor, he’ll make some friends in his new party.

  • centof@lemm.eeEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    Democrats are awful at reminding people what they’ve accomplished.

    Even if I disagree with your point of view on the whole, I can agree with this statement. However, I do think it is worth bearing in mind that corporate owned media does not cover what democrats do because it does not sell. What does sell to the public is fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Which coincidentally is the republican message.

    I am ignoring your the rest of your rant including your cursing and belittling of others.

    There are a whole lot of people who don’t see economic policies from the Dems and are sick and tired of seeing elected officials endlessly waste all their time and political capital on non-issues.

    Also related to the above point, Media (especially Fox) loves to paint democrats as only focusing on social issues and either ignore any focus on economic issues they have or constantly accusing them of taking your money even when they are not.