Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson flips parties to become a Republican
Misty Severi
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The Democratic mayor of one of the country’s largest cities announced that he is switching political parties on Friday, saying that cities in the United States need more Republicans.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said he believes the future of the United States’s “great urban centers depends on the willingness of the nation’s mayors to champion law and order and practice fiscal conservatism” and that he was leaving the Democratic Party because it was not committed to making the country safer.
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“Our cities desperately need the genuine commitment to these principles (as opposed to the inconsistent, poll-driven commitment of many Democrats) that has long been a defining characteristic of the GOP,” Johnson wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. “In other words, American cities need Republicans — and Republicans need American cities.”
Johnson noted that he has long been a champion of law enforcement, even fighting back against calls to defund the police after the riots that spurred out of the death of George Floyd. He has also sought to make Dallas the safest city in the country and has succeeded in lowering the city’s violent crime rate in every “major category,” including murder, for the past two years.
During his four years as mayor, Johnson said he has also fought for lower taxes and a friendlier business climate that attracted both small businesses and Fortune 500 corporations like Goldman Sachs.
“I have no intention of changing my approach to my job,” Johnson wrote. “But today I am changing my party affiliation. 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.”
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Johnson said the decision would not change his policy on not endorsing candidates as mayor, claiming his decision to switch parties was based on policies and ideas instead of individual people.
The mayor was just reelected this year, with 98.7% of the vote, and will not be running for a third term due to the city’s term limit. Before his success as mayor, Johnson served in the state House of Representatives as a Democrat for eight years.