Mayor of Dallas Eric Johnson speaks throughout the FIFA World Cup 2026 Host Metropolis Announcement on the AT&T Discovery District on June 16, 2022, in Dallas, Texas. | Supply: Omar Vega / Getty
The mayor of Dallas will grow to be a Republican simply months after he efficiently ran for reelection as a Democrat, he wrote in an op-ed that probably caught his constituent off guard.
Eric Johnson, the town’s second-ever Black mayor, made the announcement Friday morning within the Wall Road Journal. He prompt he was switching to the Republican Occasion partially due to the “inconsistent, poll-driven” political atmosphere he labored in as a Democrat.
He promised to be the identical mayor Dallas has had since he was first elected in 2019 no matter political affiliation. He additionally referenced his reelection in Could that he received with almost 99% of the vote and mentioned he would nonetheless be “for the individuals of Dallas” it doesn’t matter what.
“I’ve no intention of adjusting my method to my job. However as we speak I’m altering my celebration affiliation,” Johnson wrote within the op-ed. “Subsequent spring, I will probably be voting within the Republican major. When my profession in elected workplace ends in 2027 on the inauguration of my successor as mayor, I’ll depart workplace as a Republican.”
He downplayed his political choice as being neither a sign of any “purple wave,” nor a predictor that different partisan defections had been on the horizon.
Johnson’s major rationale within the op-ed for switching events appeared to be that he believes that city facilities like Dallas want Republican mayors.
“American cities want Republicans—and Republicans want American cities,” Johnson, whose time period ends in 2027, wrote.
The response on social media to Johnson’s announcement was seemingly break up alongside partisan strains, with conservative-leaning accounts rejoicing and their extra liberal counterparts claiming political disloyalty.
Podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen wrote on X, previously often called Twitter, that Johnson “betrayed voters” who simply flocked to the polls to resoundingly reelect him.
On the flip aspect, self-described “patriot” Rogan O’Handley who runs the conservative-leaning DC DRAINO social media accounts, posted, “Welcome brother!”
Together with his announcement, Johnson – a former lawyer who served within the Texas state legislature for almost a decade as a registered Democrat, now enjoys the excellence of being the newest excessive profile Black individual to modify to Republican.
Notably, in Georgia, Vernon Jones, additionally a former state legislator, introduced in 2020 that he, a Democrat, was endorsing Donald Trump within the election that 12 months and switching to Republican.
“It’s quite simple to me. President Trump’s dealing with of the economic system, his help for traditionally Black schools and his felony justice initiatives drew me to endorse his marketing campaign,” Jones mentioned on the time. “There are plenty of African Individuals who clearly see and admire he’s doing one thing that’s by no means been completed earlier than,” Jones mentioned.
Notably, Jones was among the many loudest supporters of the so-called “Cease The Steal” rally that sparked the election fraud lies which have gotten Trump indicted 4 instances in as many months this 12 months.
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