News/Commentary

Dallas mayor gives powerful reason for switching parties: ‘American cities need Republicans’

September 23, 2023 | | Print Article

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson is fed up with the Democratic Party and announced that he will be changing his party affiliation to Republican in a reaction to the disastrous leftward shift that has led to a rise in crime and homelessness in the nation’s deep blue cities.

Johnson, who was overwhelmingly reelected earlier this year, dropped his political bombshell in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in which he explained his decision and why the future for America’s urban centers must be one led by Republicans if big cities are to survive.

In the op-ed titled “America’s Cities Need Republicans, and I’m Becoming One,” the mayor said he’s leaving his party because “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.”

“I have been mayor of Dallas for more than four years. During that time, my priority has been to make the city safer, stronger and more vibrant. That meant saying no to those who wanted to defund the police. It meant fighting for lower taxes and a friendlier business climate,” he wrote. “That approach is working.”

“Alone among America’s 10 most populous cities, Dallas has brought violent crime down in every major category, including murder, year-over-year for the past two years. In a recent Gallup poll asking Americans to rate the safety of major cities, Dallas came out on top. We have also reduced our property tax rate every year since I took office, signaling to investors that Dallas intends to remain the nation’s most pro-business city,” Johnson added.

Unlike his Democrat colleagues who all but handed the key to their cities over to criminal thugs and ideological leftists during the 2020 summer of George Floyd when ideologues pushing their anti-cop agenda took control of local governments, Johnson resisted the defund the police mania and saw crime plummet in the Texas metropolis.

“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,” wrote the mayor in the WSJ.

“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,” he said. “Most of these local leaders are proud Democrats who view cities as laboratories for liberalism rather than as havens for opportunity and free enterprise.”

“Too often, local tax dollars are spent on policies that exacerbate homelessness, coddle criminals and make it harder for ordinary people to make a living. And too many local Democrats insist on virtue signaling—proposing half-baked government programs that aim to solve every single societal ill—and on finding new ways to thumb their noses at Republicans at the state or federal level. Enough. This makes for good headlines, but not for safer, stronger, more vibrant cities,” Mayor Johnson wrote.

Lone Star State Republicans welcomed Johnson to the party on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Texas is getting more Red every day,” wrote Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

“Welcome, Mayor!” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote.

Johnson noted that “with my change in party affiliation, I recognize that the number of Republican mayors leading the nation’s 10 largest cities has increased from zero to one. This is hardly a red wave. But it is clear that the nation and its cities have reached a time for choosing. And the overwhelming majority of Americans who call our cities home deserve to have real choices—not ‘progressive’ echo chambers—at city hall.”

Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE

Chris Donaldson
Latest posts by Chris Donaldson (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles