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.

  • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
    422·
    1 year ago

    A lot of older black people are super conservative, many are single issue voters. Sadly they will gladly vote for the side that hates them, so long as that side opposes abortions, or vaccines or whatever they are against this year.

    • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
      141·
      1 year ago

      No they’re not. Black people vote +90% for Democrats, even if they’re conservative. Years of hard experience has given them the ability to see through lots of bullshit.

      The ones who vote Republican are always the craziest and most self-centered people. Ones who love tax cuts above everything. Herman Cain died of Covid and his family made him keep tweeting. How craven can you be?

      https://thehill.com/homenews/news/514440-herman-cain-account-tweets-coronavirus-not-as-deadly-as-claimed-after-his-death/

      • Armen12@lemm.eeEnglish
        44·
        1 year ago

        It’s about 70% that vote democrat but that doesn’t correlate to election day, turnout rate is another story. No one bothers showing up for mid-terms

        • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
          52·
          1 year ago

          This comment is 100% wrong. All research and election results show that +90% of black people vote Democratic, and they have high turnout (even in midterms). It’s like you just made everything up and don’t even remember black voters delivering 2 Democratic Senators in GA.

          Just 6% of Black registered voters said they would back the Republican candidate in the race to represent their district in the House of Representatives.

          Black eligible voters stand out for their relatively high voter turnout rates

          https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/10/12/key-facts-about-black-eligible-voters-in-2022/

          Black voters continued to support Democrats by overwhelming margins: 93% voted for Democrats in the midterms while 5% supported Republicans. This is similar to levels of support in 2020, 2018 and 2016.

          https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/07/12/voting-patterns-in-the-2022-elections/

          • Armen12@lemm.eeEnglish
            45·
            1 year ago

            “In an August 2022 Pew Research Center survey, 70% of Black registered voters said they would vote for or were leaning to the Democratic U.S. House candidate in their district in the coming election. Another 24% were either unsure or said they would back another candidate”

            What did I say wrong, it’s literally in the article you posted

            • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
              63·
              1 year ago

              Oh, I see you can’t admit you’re wrong about anything. Watch, I’m going to show you again and you will misinterpret it again because your beliefs are rooted in desire, not fact.

              You said:

              It’s about 70% that vote democrat but that doesn’t correlate to election day

              In the 2022 midterms, 93% voted for Democrats.

              You said:

              turnout rate is another story. No one bothers showing up for mid-terms

              In reality, “Black eligible voters stand out for their relatively high turnout rates.”

              • Armen12@lemm.eeEnglish
                48·
                1 year ago

                https://www.brookings.edu/articles/new-voter-turnout-data-from-2022-shows-some-surprises-including-lower-turnout-for-youth-women-and-black-americans-in-some-states/

                “Perhaps the most notable finding with respect to voter turnout is that 2022 turnout rates were nearly as high as the record-setting 2018 midterm turnout rates. Yet unlike the previous midterm elections, the groups with the highest Democratic voting margins—in particular, young people, Black Americans, women, and white female college graduates—did not show greater turnout increases than other groups, and often displayed lower turnout rates than in the 2018 midterms. These groups displayed higher turnout rates than in the low-turnout 2014 midterms, but either did not match or did not improve on their 2018 turnout levels. And only a minority of states registered turnout increases between 2018 and 2022, while an even smaller number showed increases among young and nonwhite voters”

                • treefrog@lemm.ee
                  32·
                  1 year ago

                  Whether the recent decrease in turnout for these largely Democratic-leaning groups was due to a waning interest in the 2022 midterms or other factors such as state-imposed restrictions that could lead to longer-term voter suppression of these groups remains to be seen.

                  From your same article.

                  Also the article mentions the states with the sharpest declines and they’re red as fuck so it’s very likely voter suppression is a major contributing factor in the statistics you’re using.

                  • Armen12@lemm.eeEnglish
                    17·
                    1 year ago

                    I don’t doubt it, I wasn’t arguing for the reasons why voter turnout is low

    • GodlessCommie@lemmy.world
      45·
      1 year ago

      As opposed to the side that tokenize their community for votes then tosses them back to the curb when they are no longer useful?

    • Touching_Grass@lemmy.world
      451·
      1 year ago

      Maybe its because people keep saying the Republicans hate them and then they come to find out that its not true. But also lots of minorities are very conservative in their beliefs. Plus Democrats and the left are very abrasive. Like saying the entire Republican party hates black people.