DALLAS — Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson is switching parties.
The longtime Democrat announced in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal that he is now a Republican. Dallas is now the largest U.S. city with a Republican mayor.
"After these wins for the people of Dallas — and after securing 98.7% of the vote in my re-election campaign this year — I have no intention of changing my approach to my job," Johnson wrote. "But today I am changing my party affiliation. 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 said he attributed his decision to cities "desperately" needing mayors to champion "law and order and practice fiscal conservatism."
"In other words, American cities need Republicans — and Republicans need American cities," Johnson wrote. "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."
Johnson joins Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker as the only Republican mayors to lead a major Texas city, according to the Texas Tribune.
Johnson said his switch to the Republican party "is hardly a red wave" among major U.S. cities, the nine of other largest of which are all led by Democrats.
"But it is clear that the nation and its cities have reached a time for choosing," Johnson wrote. "And the overwhelming majority of Americans who call our cities home deserve to have real choices — not “progressive” echo chambers — at city hall."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott celebrated Johnson's party switch on Twitter, saying, "Texas is getting more Red every day."
"He's pro law enforcement & won't tolerate leftist agendas," Abbott posted. "Two of the largest 10 cities in America now have Republican Mayors & they are both in Texas."
In an official statement Friday, Abbott shared that he was proud to welcome Johnson to "the party of freedom, opportunity, and economic prosperity."
Abbott highlighted Johnson's time in office, saying he "championed conservative economic policies, leading to safe neighborhoods and unprecedented growth, including attracting Fortune 500 companies to the region, and helping small businesses to thrive."
Abbott said he's looking forward to continuing to work with Johnson "as we build a brighter, more prosperous Texas of tomorrow.”
While the Dallas mayor position is technically nonpartisan, Johnson was elected as a Democrat in June 2019, defeating top competitor Scott Griggs. He ran unopposed in the May 2023 election to secure a second term as mayor.
Before getting elected mayor, Johnson represented Dallas in the Texas House from April 2010 to June 2019.
The Republican Party of Texas was also celebrating Johnson's switch to the GOP.
"We are thrilled to have Eric Johnson join the Republican Party," Texas GOP chairman Matt Rinaldi said in a statement. "In his tenure as Mayor he has set the example by fighting to lower property taxes, resisted efforts to defund the police and make Dallas safer. We look forward to working with him to make Dallas better."
Johnson in his Wall Street Journal op-ed again touted Dallas as one of the safest large cities in the U.S., citing a Gallup poll that ranked Dallas No. 1. He also pointed to Dallas reducing its property tax rate every year since 2019 as proof of Dallas being the country's "most pro-business city."
Johnson wrote that he was happy to be "free from hyperpartisanship" when he was first elected mayor. But now, he said, he can't "stay on the sidelines any longer."
"Unfortunately, many of our cities are in disarray," Johnson wrote. "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."
Texas Democrats in a statement denounced Johnson's party switch, but called it "neither surprising nor unwelcome."
"But the voters of Dallas deserved to know where he stood before he ran for reelection as Mayor," the group said in a joint statement with the Dallas County Democratic Party. "He wasn't honest with his constituents, and knew he would lose to a Democrat if he flipped before the election."
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