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.
EDIT: I’m putting my edit at the top of the post because it’s clear I’m dealing with people with rather limited comprehension. What you clowns fail to realize is that my post is a warning to the Democratic party because I, as a life long Democrat, see them as being utterly fucken lost in sharing their message for the future and in sharing their current successes to average Joe’s. Here, let me spell it out to you: this is not a pro-Republican post. Fuck every last thing about the GOP. Clearly, you buffoons can’t understand that concept. Yes, this administration has many successes, but what you are not understanding is that middle America doesn’t know that. That’s because Democrats are awful st reminding people what they’ve accomplished. They are terrible with communicating with people in terms of what their vision for the future is. Average Joe’s don’t follow the news all that closely. And they follow political news even less. They need to be endlessly reminded WHY Democrats are better for them, for their wallet, for the country and even the planet. There are accomplishments right now that Republicans fight tooth and nail to stop, and after they somehow got passed, those same Republicans went home and took credit for them. They did this with the infrastructure bill. How can they get away with that? Because Democrats don’t advertise their successes. Just the other day was a doom and gloom article on how so many Americans think the economy is in the toilet, when it really isn’t. The economy is legitimately good well, but perception is not because Democrats have lost the ability to send a message out to voters. The only time you see them on the news is when they are endlessly wasting time on nonsense social issues for groups that represent a few percentage points of the total population, all while the majority of folks are out there, looking around and wondering when are Democrats going to think about them. Clearly this is too complicated for some of you retards to understand.
Hey Democrats, keep pushing that bullshit social agenda and blindly focusing on tiny fringe minority groups, instead of taking care of economic issues, and this won’t be the last time a defection happens.
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.
Focusing on what the pronoun du jour is will end up handing Trump a second term.
Wait…wait…wait, you look at the two parties and think the Democrats are the party of social nonsense and no substantive agenda? The Republican party has essentially distilled their entire platform down to “Woke”!
But they’re so good at the economy! Look at how many more billionaires there are after years of tax cuts and shoveling government money at them! Everyone knows that more rich people = great economy!
Responsible governing is forgiving interest free loans to corporations posting record profits and raising interest rates of everyone paying off different loans.
Yeah, it’s not the Democrats who focus so much on trans people. It’s republicans that are passing laws to try to ban their existence and wellbeing.
It’s bizarre that there’s people acting like Democrats are all about identity politics when it’s the core piece of the GOP’s platform to the point that they barely seem to have any policies beyond it (and the occasional “reduces taxes on the rich and corporations – it’ll trickle down, we promise!”
The mainstream position on people with medical stuff is that they go to their doctors and get the treatment their doctors recommend. In the case of transgender folks, that treatment is transition.
The shithead position on people with medical stuff is that the governor gets to tell them to kill themselves instead.
Yeah. It’s frustrating seeing the right act like their view is somehow scientifically correct or whatever, when it’s actually against medical consensus.
They love to make claims about how they’re all about “facts don’t care about your feelings”, which they’ll back up with stuff they learned in 6th grade science while pretending college level science doesn’t exist lol.
Sixth-grade genetics and kindergarten explanations of gender turn out to not really be up to describing the real world, no.
You’re a fringe minority group, now get off my lawn
Republicans being “better” at the economy is a myth. They still sell themselves as the fiscally responsible party but in modern history the economy has grown more under democratic leadership and democrats have taken on less debt (less expansion of the deficit). But despite the data here you are spouting party rhetoric.
And as far as social agenda… that’s all the modern republican part is, various witch hunts and cancel culture.
If you’re saying this, that must mean it’s the Democrats who keep pushing legislation to regulate the lives of those “tiny fringe minority groups,” right?
Oh… no, it’s sure not that.
Anyway I’m glad my ability to access healthcare is a non-issue as far as you’re concerned.
EDIT: With regards to the update, that seems bad-faith. I really don’t see how you could expect people to read the original comment as “Democrats suck at messaging” when what you said was that they aren’t “taking care of economic issues”. My and most of these other posts have nothing to do with whether we thought you were pro-republican. We took issue with you spitting incoherence that echoes republican propaganda.
That said, you proudly trotting out the r-slur to refer to people who disagree with you means I’m going to dislike you regardless. It doesn’t make you cool and edgy. It doesn’t meaningfully communicate anything. It just shows you’re an asshole.
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The problem with what you’re saying is that Republicans are so godawful at finances that it’s laughable you see them as the better side to deal with economic issues.
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Or needing a daddy to tell you what to think for the rest of your life.
You mean like everyone has for the last 20 or so years? But if i say to vote your concious, I get told im a dirty centrist throwing my vote away or an idiot because reasons
You really need to step away from the bullshit winger propaganda. It’s not anchored in any reality.
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Retards like you are going to hand the election to Trump.
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Biden shakes lots of hands with garbage dictators. He’s out there doing deals with Saudi Arabia so he clearly cares nothing about human rights
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Oh wow excuse me for pointing out how we shouldn’t be doing deals with the devil while talking endlessly about human rights. Our words are hollow if we’re out there giving every dictator whatever they want without any consequences
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I do actually believe that we shouldn’t be doing deals with terrible countries with long histories of atrocities, yes
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We’re among the lowest countries for inflation, in a time of global inflation, the administration is backing labor, the fuck do you want, more trickle down? Because the only thing that trickles down is a yellow that ain’t gold, and smells funny.
Sell your goddamn economic accomplishments! Just the other day was another news story of how so many people are angry and feel lost because the Dems can’t fucken communicate their wins. They aren’t seeing this rosy economy, not because we have high inflation anymore, but because Dems are inept in relaying their victories to the public. This endless focus on meaningless issues is infuriating to average Joe’s who are trying trying to get by.
Biden is doing literally exactly that. So are folks like Fetterman, Buttigieg, Sanders, Warren, etc.
The problem is that the entire media ecosystem is sensationalist, and that feeds directly into hot button, eyebrow raising culture war issues, which generate clicks, likes, and shares. There’s less public appetite for “look at how labor laws are affecting wages and promoting emerging industries” than there is for “OmG TaY tAy wOrE a PrOnOuN dReSs tO a TrAnSgEnDeR OrGy!!!@@@” Dems are fucking inept at PR, but they’re also fighting to make boring topics interesting, all while the entire country loses their goddamn minds over trans men getting pregnant and trans boys playing softball. Bring up clean energy and infrastructure and the public tunes the fuck out in minutes, but bring up a kid getting hormone therapy and people lose their everloving marbles FOR WEEKS ON END! Once Grandpappy Republican hears about a drag queen reading a book to children, it’s all they talk about to their nieces, friends, cousins, siblings, grandchildren, plumber, Walmart clerk, parking attendant, dry cleaner, neighbor, mailman, dog catcher, actual dog, crown moulding, antique chair, turkey sandwich, god, dead fish, washing machine, etc, etc, etc, and so on forever.
Next time you hear about some of that culture war nonsense, ask yourself, “Who brought this up in the first place or made this an issue that we need to talk about? Was it a Democrat, a Republican, the media, or an agent provacateur who wants you to be talking about it because they know it pisses you off?” CRT is a thing because Christopher Rufo wanted you to talk about it. Hunter Biden is a thing because Garret Ziegler wanted you to talk about him. Gas stove bans are a thing because Republicans wanted you to talk about them. Consider the source, my dude.
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100% the Dems are godawful at communication. On the other hand, red team rage bait is more interesting to news sources. Getting people to watch CSPAN instead of TMZ is such an uphill battle. How do we make the infrastructure bill viral?
You make the infrastructure bill viral by first and foremost dressing it up. Don’t call it simply an infrastructure bill. Call it Bidens infrastructure bill or some catchy name that reflected who was responsible.
Obama didn’t give the ACA its moniker “Obamacare” but there is no doubt who is the one who created it and proposed it. There is no way Republicans can take credit for it. And when Obama was president, his logo was on every imaginable bill and public works program. You would be reminded all the time who was responsible. Why aren’t Dems doing that now? Why do they always hide their victories? Hire some popular YTers or TikTokers to sell your ideas to the masses. Go out there ans talk about things. For fucks sakes, every time you see a Republican on the news,chances are good that he will be both promoting what the GOP leadership are trying to oush through, but also poke jabs at Democrats. While on the flip side, if a news program acts for a Democrat to come onto their show, the Cemocratic leadership pick the most boring, socially awkward, and least charismatic person they can find. Or at least that’s what it seems like. Damnit is it frustrating to see this shit time and time again.
The “Inflation Reduction Act” was passed last year. The “Affordable Care Act” was passed under Obama. Did branding either of them help drown out incessant right-wing media attacks against them?
Of course not.
The Democratic Party uses Tik Tok. It also uses YouTube. Did you know about either of those before you suggested they should start doing so?
I doubt it.
Your single biggest gripe seems to be that Democrats aren’t as incessantly loud, brash, and combative as Republicans. Perhaps you should ask yourself, do you really want them to be? Maybe you do, maybe you don’t, but there’s a reason they’re Democrats in the first place. It’s because they’re not total fucking assholes.
Anybody who’s looking at any specific piece news and thinking it’s wholly truthful, red or blue, is a moron.
Biggest infrastructure investment since World War II, biggest clean energy investment in US history, lowest unemployment rate in US history, net increase of 13 million jobs since Trump left office, 800,000 US manufacturing jobs created, lower inflation rate than almost the rest of the planet. If the right would shut up about pronouns the rest of us would go back to literally just living our lives and trying to be left the fuck alone.
Out of the two parties, only the Democrats have a significant pro-labor presence and support sensible Keynesian economics rather than extreme free-market solutions. In the federal government, both parties have increased the debt at a similar rate, and Democrats do that by spending more on social programs that benefit the American populace vs. the Republicans who do so with tax cuts that only benefit millionaires and billionaires. In what world is the Republican party the party of good economics?
Don’t mind me, I’m just here to send you another notification.
I hope you dont delete your comment because we need more people to stand behind what they think. I hate how pussy footed people can be so I respect when people dont delete their heavily downvoted stuff.
With that said, i would hope that you look past the rhetoric of what republicans say they can do and what the outcome of their actions has been. There is a reason why people think the republicans are the party of phobias, the party the greedy, the party of the “fuck you I got mine”. I dislike the democrats in power too but the republicans are anti american.
Edit: i just read your update and I agree. Your comment wasnt clearly anti dem as it seemed pro rep so yeah.
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The left don’t focus on any of that nearly as much as the right. There has been no Republican owned media or politician that’s gone a week without saying the word transgender in the past 7 years. They’re obsessed. The left are just reactionaries responding to all the crazy shit the Republicans are doing like don’t say gay laws and book burnings
Ah yes democrats are abrasive. Not the party that has white supremacists as part of its voting block.
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.
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.
While I disagree with your post on the whole, I agree with the above statement. However, I think it is worth considering that the corporate media does not cover what they accomplish because it does not sell. Instead they focus on what does sell which is fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Coincidentally republicans message often largely focuses on that.
I am ignoring the rest of your rant including the cursing and belittling of others. That is not conducive to convincing someone.
Also relates to the above point. The corporate media (especially Fox) likes to paint democrats as only focusing on social issues and minimizes any focus on economic policies they do have. Democratic policies are widely known to be good for the economy but you would not get that impression from corporate media.
While the 1% have us fighting amongst ourselves for meaningless identity politics, and social issues, they are laser focused on fighting a class war against us. And they are winning, we get to pay for it.
Democrats don’t just fall for bullshit identity politics, they eagerly lavish being drowned in it. And all the comments in here prove it.
It’s the economy stupid.
That phrase is just as true today, as it was some 30 years ago when it cost Bush Sr a second term. The worst part is that the economy isn’t even bad, rather people have been pulled down by endless doom and gloom talk for the last 2 years about how the economy is just weeks away from collapsing. And with all that negative talk, Dems haven’t bothered to ever go out there and counter it with positive messages. Shit, looking at the posts on Lemmy and the comments in here, these dipshits have been complicit in spreading that message.
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