Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson has helmed the Lone Star State's third-largest city for more than four years as a Democrat, but now he's seen enough of his party's policies in practice around the country and announced he's flipping to become a Republican.
Mayor Johnson's announcement came in a column for The Wall Street Journal on Friday titled "America’s Cities Need Republicans, and I’m Becoming One."
Even before making his party switch official, Johnson's list of priorities and policy positions sounded more like a GOP platform than the Democrats', such as "saying no to those who wanted to defund the police...fighting for lower taxes and a friendlier business climate...[and] investing in family friendly infrastructure such as better parks and trails."
Noting that he was re-elected with 98.7 percent of the vote, Johnson says he has "no intention of changing my approach to my job" even as he changes his political party membership. "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," Johnson writes.
Johnson's column continues to point out the error of Democrat leaders in America's cities:
I have always tried to be honest and say what I think is right for my city. The future of America’s great urban centers depends on the willingness of the nation’s mayors to champion law and order and practice fiscal conservatism. 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.
In other words, American cities need Republicans—and Republicans need American cities. When my political hero Theodore Roosevelt was born, only 20% of Americans lived in urban areas. By the time he was elected president, that share had doubled to 40%. Today, it stands at 80%. As America’s cities go, so goes America.
Unfortunately, many of our cities are in disarray. Mayors and other local elected officials have failed to make public safety a priority or to exercise fiscal restraint. Most of these local leaders are proud Democrats who view cities as laboratories for liberalism rather than as havens for opportunity and free enterprise.
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Noting that his decision to switch parties means "the number of Republican mayors leading the nation's 10 largest cities has increased from zero to one" is "hardly a red wave," Johnson says it's "clear that the nation and its cities have reached a time for choosing" — a hat tip to 40th President Ronald Reagan's pivotal 1964 speech in support of Barry Goldwater's ultimately unsuccessful presidential bid. "[T]he overwhelming majority of Americans who call our cities home deserve to have real choices—not 'progressive' echo chambers—at city hall," urged Johnson.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, among a GOP chorus, issued a warm welcome to Mayor Johnson.
Welcome to the @GOP, Mayor @Johnson4Dallas!https://t.co/kPnp9cTSpy
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) September 22, 2023
Johnson's work in Dallas — often running against the "progressive" Democrat tide — has delivered results for his city and its residents. Unfortunately, evidence is not the kind of thing that proves persuasive to those in Johnson's now-former party, and the disastrous results he outlined as following Democrat agendas in other cities across the country haven't proven persuasive for more big city mayors.
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