Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, who served within the Texas legislature as a Democrat, has introduced he’s becoming a member of the Republican Get together. That’s in response to an opinion piece by Johnson printed in Friday’s Wall Avenue Journal.
The opinion piece titled “America’s Cities Need Republicans, and I’m Becoming One” particulars Johnson’s causes for leaving. These embody wanting to seek out “common sense options” to political variations, striving for “legislation and order” and training fiscal conservatism.
“Our cities desperately want the real dedication to those ideas…that has lengthy been a defining attribute of the GOP,” Johnson wrote.
Johnson was scheduled to talk at The Texas Tribune Pageant on Friday morning. The session was described as “the Dallas mayor on his second-term agenda and preserving partisanship at bay.”
In his opinion piece, Johnson mentioned he believes mayors and elected officers have failed cities across the nation by not making public security a precedence. His most up-to-date marketing campaign was closely geared towards decreasing violent crime within the metropolis.
The political get together change comes after an unsuccessful marketing campaign to decrease the town’s tax fee in an try to carry off what some name “a monetary cliff.”
Texas Legal professional Normal Ken Paxton, who was not too long ago acquitted on quite a few impeachment prices starting from securities fraud to interfering in a federal probe, was one of many first to reply to Johnson’s announcement.
“Welcome, Mayor!” Paxton tweeted Friday morning.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott additionally chimed in on Johnson’s get together change.
“Texas is getting extra Crimson on a regular basis. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson switches to Republican get together,” Abbott mentioned on Twitter. “He is professional legislation enforcement & will not tolerate leftist agendas.”
Johnson invited Republican Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn to the Dallas Metropolis Council inauguration earlier this yr. Johnson was sworn in by Cornyn whereas the remainder of the council was sworn in by the municipal decide.
Response from a number of the council members who’ve labored intently with Johnson since he was elected mayor in 2019 was much less enthusiastic.
“Get together affiliation performs no function in how I serve my District and work for all Dallas residents,” District 9 Council Member Paula Blackmon advised KERA. “I ran for municipal workplace as a result of partisan politics shouldn’t play a motivating function in choices affecting our residents. My work at Dallas Metropolis Corridor most straight impacts the lives of on a regular basis residents, and I present up every single day to do the job they elected me to do.”
KERA not too long ago reported that Johnson has missed more than 130 hours of city council meetings since being elected mayor in 2019 — greater than any of the present metropolis council members. That’s in accordance to a knowledge evaluation of attendance knowledge recorded by the Metropolis Secretary’s Workplace.
District 1 Council Member Chad West mentioned he would work with Johnson if he reaches out for nonpartisan consensus on a spread of points that replicate the values of the town and the council.
“Many, together with myself, cherish that the coalitions and dealing teams that type among the many Dallas metropolis council members typically transcend partisanship,” West advised KERA. “Each Metropolis Corridor observer is aware of there have been many votes over time by which its self-identified Democratic and Republican members break up on points as elected officers tried to do proper by their districts slightly than their events.
West acknowledged that he remained “a steadfast and proud Democrat due to my values as a small enterprise proprietor, army veteran, homosexual man, and father of two.”
“I don’t perceive the mayor’s resolution to modify events within the period we discover ourselves in, however I hope he makes use of this inflection level in his life to double down on the dedication he made to serve Dallas for the subsequent 4 years as its mayor,” he mentioned.
The Dallas Metropolis Council voted on Wednesday to approve a multi-billion greenback finances that included a barely decrease tax fee — however not low sufficient for many who campaigned in opposition to the speed.
“In an surroundings of such financial uncertainty for our residents and companies, with inflation and rates of interest the place thy are, I couldn’t vote for a finances that’s the largest within the historical past of the town and that’s paid for by elevating taxes,” Johnson tweeted after the vote.
Property tax aid was outlined in 2022 as one in every of many priorities of the Texas Republican Get together.
“He has been spewing proper wing catch-phrases and conservative insurance policies since 2020, and I’ve been ringing the alarm,” Jerry Hawkins, the director of Dallas Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation, mentioned of Johnson. “He has betrayed each Democratic voter that forged a vote for him, together with me. …I hope this can be a wake-up to Metropolis of Dallas voters to be extra vigilant and to be extra engaged.”
Acquired a tip? E mail Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You’ll be able to comply with Nathan on Twitter @nathannotforyou.
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