Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson says he is switching political parties citing his disillusionment with Democrats and a desire to lead one of America’s largest cities under the Republican banner.
The former state house representative announced the move Friday in an opinion piece published by The Wall Street Journal that said he plans to vote in the Republican primary next spring and intends to leave his mayoral seat as a Republican after being term-limited in 2027. He blamed Democratic policies for “exacerbated crime and homelessness.”
“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,” Johnson wrote in the editorial. He went on to say he believes the Republican Party shares those priorities.
“In other words, American cities need Republicans — and Republicans need American cities,” said Johnson, who was reelected to a second and final term as mayor in May.
The move is unusual because Dallas’ mayor and 14 City Council positions are officially nonpartisan, and council policy votes typically don’t fall along party lines.
Johnson’s shift to the right positions him as the only Republican-identifying mayor of the top 10 largest cities in America. Republican leadership is also rare in Texas’ biggest cities. Among the five largest, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker is the only other Republican.
Johnson was quickly welcomed into the GOP Friday by the state’s top Republicans, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who recently was acquitted in an impeachment trial.
The governor said Johnson “won’t tolerate leftist agendas.”
“Texas is getting more Red every day,” Abbott said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Leaders of the Texas Democratic Party also cheered the announcement — for different reasons.
Gilberto Hinojosa, the chair of the Texas Democratic Party, and Shay Wyrick Cathey, the group’s vice-chair, described Johnson as “an ineffective and truant mayor, not only disconnected from Democratic values, but unable to even be an effective messenger for conservative local policy.”
“This feeble excuse for democratic representation will fit right in with Republicans,” the statement said. “And we are grateful that he can no longer tarnish the brand and values of the Texas Democratic Party.”
Yet several of Johnson’s colleagues on the City Council expressed little surprise about the mayor’s move, saying they’ve felt Johnson has often appealed to a conservative base.
“I’ve always seen him as a Republican in ideology,” said council member Adam Bazaldua, who represents the South Dallas area. “But the big question is why? Why now? Why announce this after the election? And why make this declaration for a nonpartisan seat?”
Johnson didn’t elaborate on the timing of his announcement in the editorial. His office declined comment to The Dallas Morning News on Friday. A political consultant group Johnson has been working with didn’t immediately respond to request for comment Friday.
Clayton P. Henry, a Dallas-based GOP political consultant, said he believed Johnson’s announcement could be a precursor to a move into national politics. Republicans are looking to reclaim The White House next year, which would come with a host of political appointments for the GOP.
The party switch will have its most relevance when Johnson decides to run for higher office. Options could emerge in 2026, when he could run for the seat held by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, or make a bid for a statewide executive post, including governor, lieutenant governor or attorney general.
“As the Democratic Party has gone further and further to the left, it’s no wonder that a law-and-order mayor like him is going to move to the Republican Party because his party has left him behind,” Henry said.
“Eric is an opportunist”
In his editorial, Johnson pointed to his nine years as a Democrat in the Republican-controlled state Legislature before he was elected as Dallas mayor in 2019. He said he felt he “was never a favorite of the Democratic caucus, and the feeling was mutual.”
Through both his mayoral campaigns, Johnson has courted Republican support. He has reported donations from several prominent Republicans, including Dallas businessman Doug Deason, who was a major backer of President Donald Trump.
Johnson had Sen. Cornyn administer his oath of office during the City Council’s inauguration in June. It was a surprise move because it is typically given by an active sitting judge. Cornyn previously served on the Texas Supreme Court and is a former state attorney general. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also attended the inauguration as a guest of Johnson.
In February, Johnson traveled to Washington D.C., to the president’s State of the Union address as an invited guest of U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas.
“I think Eric is an opportunist,” said Council member Jaime Resendez, who represents southeast Dallas’ Pleasant Grove. “He sees the lay of the land, and I don’t think he sees this as a matter of right and wrong. I think he sees more opportunities for him personally as a Republican, and that’s what this is about.”
“He is focused on having a strong term”
Johnson is a West Dallas native who earned degrees from Harvard, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania Law School on his way to becoming a lawyer. He served five terms as a state representative starting in 2010 before becoming the second Black person to be elected mayor of Dallas.
In addition to his $80,000-a-year position as mayor, he is a partner at law firm Locke Lord LLP in its public finance practice group.
Johnson was the lone mayoral candidate listed on voters’ ballots in May for the first time in more than 50 years. He received 93% of the vote. Kendal Richardson, a write-in candidate, received 1% of the vote and the other 6% write-in votes went elsewhere.
Johnson has made public safety, city ethics reform, workforce development, increasing parks and green space and boosting the city’s international standing among his top priorities. But throughout his tenure he has faced questions about his leadership and ability to build consensus on the City Council. Council members have said he doesn’t communicate with them much outside of city meetings and emailed memos.
He clashed with the majority of the body over police budget funding in 2020, often pointing to the public that he opposed a City Council vote to shift $7 million planned to go to police overtime. The money was reallocated to other public safety initiatives like hiring more civilian police staff to move more sworn officers on desk duty roles to patrol. Johnson cited the money shift as an example of the City Council trying to “defund the police”.
Since 2020, Johnson has pledged to not endorse candidates in partisan races while Dallas’ mayor. He has stuck to that vow, though he did publicly back some challengers in 2021 city elections who ultimately lost their council seat bids against incumbents.
Last year, Johnson publicly led a campaign to fire City Manager T.C. Broadnax that fizzled when he didn’t have the necessary eight votes to make the move.
On Wednesday, Johnson was part of the losing side of a 10-5 vote approving the latest budget, after publicly backing a plan to make more cuts to city department spending to further drop the property tax rate, which is the highest among Texas’ largest cities. Despite that, the City Council has approved lowering the tax rate for the last eight years.
Mari Woodlief, president of Allyn Media, a public relations and political consulting firm that ran Johnson’s latest reelection campaign, said she believed Johnson’s announcement was just formalizing the way he has been leading including wanting to fully fund the police department and pushing for lower taxes.
“If you look at where he has focused his time and energy and the way he’s been leading, then it makes sense that he’s more conservative than where the Democratic Party is right now,” Woodlief said.
Bazaldua said he didn’t believe it would change the dynamic on the 15-member City Council.
“But it is important to note that he is still one of 15 votes,” he said, “and a lot of the successes he has been touting, like Dallas being one of the safest large cities in America, is because of policies passed by a majority Democrat City Council.”
Council member Paula Blackmon, who represents the White Rock Lake area in East Dallas where Johnson lives, said she didn’t believe partisan politics should play a motivating role in decisions impacting residents.
“Party affiliation goes against the spirit of the City Charter,” she said. “Whether you’re one way or another way, I just don’t think it plays any role.”
Woodlief said she doesn’t think Johnson’s ambitions lie beyond City Hall during the rest of his mayoral term, saying his next targets are the upcoming proposed $1 billion bond voters could decide on in 2024 and the City Charter review also next year.
“I really think he is focused on having a strong term,” Woodlief said. “I don’t think this is about what he’s going to run for next.”
Staff writer Gromer Jeffers Jr. contributed to this report.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
