(TotalConservative.com) – Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson officially declared his intention to change the party and join the Republicans. He explained that he differed from the Democrats on crime. The announcement came via an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal.
The swap will make Dallas the largest city in the nation that has a Republican mayor, previously that record was held by Fort Worth.
John wrote of his intention to vote in the Republican primary and leave office as a Republican in 2027.
Texas Democrats hailed the announcement, with some suggesting that he was just posing as a Democrat to get elected.
In their official response, state Democrats said they weren’t surprised and called his representation of Democrat values thus far “feeble.” They further said they were glad he wouldn’t “tarnish the brand” for Texas Democrats.
Dallas state Rep. John Bryant joked that he didn’t need to switch parties because he wasn’t aware Johnson was a Democrat in the first place.
Johnson cited taxes and crime as major issues he finally broke with the Democrats. In the past, Dallas’ mayor was typically nonpartisan. After he was elected, Johnson fought hard to expand the police and pushed for stronger interventions to deal with rising crime.
In his op-ed, Johnson remarked that he couldn’t “stay on the sidelines” and did his best to be honest and do what he thought was best for the city. He further stated his belief that the future of cities depends on the mayor enforcing the law and maintaining civil order while practicing fiscal conservatism in office.
He said that many cities around the nation were “in disarray.” He lambasted the failures of officials to focus on public safety as well as behave irresponsibly with public finances. He pointed out that many of those responsible were local Democrat leaders who saw cities as their own private liberal playgrounds instead of centers of commerce and opportunity.
Dallas has historically leaned left, Biden had a 32-point lead in the 2020 election. The only county in Texas that could be considered more left-leaning is Travis County which encompasses the city of Austin.
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