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.

  • GodlessCommie@lemmy.world
    26·
    9 months ago

    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.

    • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
      23·
      9 months ago

      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.