DALLAS — The activist behind a petition filed last week seeking to recall Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson says he believes a previous online petition launched by the Dallas County Democratic Party calling for Johnson to resign seemed “symbolic."
The Dallas County Democratic Party launched an online petition calling for Johnson to resign shortly after Johnson announced his switch to the Republican party this past fall. That petition had 2,627 of 3,000 signatures as of Wednesday evening.
“I kind of waited to let them take leadership on this…however, it just didn’t seem like they were really interested in taking [a] serious stance on this issue,” said Davante Peters, a local activist who runs a health food store in Oak Cliff and started circulating the recall petition. “I decided to say, ‘Hey, I didn’t see anybody else was going to do anything outside of talking about it,’ and so I decided to file the petition.”
“If there’s something that a politician isn’t doing or promises they’re not keeping, or just not showing up for their job, or switching party lines or just doing things…that are simply for them and not for the city, we don’t have to put up with that. That’s what this petition is expressing,” Peters added. "The people that should have did it -- I felt like they dropped the ball, and they were doing more symbolic approaches to getting the mayor out, and not really forcing the city to do anything."
Peters says he filed the petition with the city secretary’s office Friday, citing a report of city council meetings Johnson missed in recent years and Johnson’s switch to the Republican party. WFAA has reached out to City Hall for comment. We’ll update this story as additional information becomes available.
Dallas City Secretary Bilirae Johnson confirmed the office received Peters' notice of intent to circulate a petition on Jan. 5. Johnson said there's never been a successful attempt to recall a Dallas mayor. There were reportedly attempts to recall former Mayor Laura Miller in the early 2000s.
Peters has until March 5 to gather signatures from at least 15% of voters who were eligible to vote in the district in the last election per Dallas city charter (or he says about 103,595 valid signatures) from registered voters. The city secretary would then have 30 days to verify the signatures, and if deemed valid, the petition would be submitted to the city council, which could call a recall election, according to the city charter.
Per Dallas County elections data, 46,255 votes were cast in the last mayoral election May 2023. Johnson ran unopposed.
Peters says he's gathered about 1,400 signatures as of Wednesday evening.
“It’s a large number,” Peters acknowledged of the number of signatures required. “However, people are really eager to sign it once they find out there is a petition.”
“If we’re really going to seriously pull this thing off, we’re going to definitely have to build with organizations,” Peters added. “It’s going to definitely have to grow outside of just the effort that myself and my store is currently spearheading.”
Peters is an activist among the self-proclaimed “Dallas 9” who were arrested and spent three days in jail for protesting the Botham Jean shooting by blocking an AT&T Stadium parking lot entrance on a game day also known for his efforts to change a portion of Lamar Street to Botham Jean Boulevard. He’s previously run for city council first in District 3, then in District 8.