Chaotic Democratic policies have led to a decision by the mayor of one major U.S. city to bail on the party and switch to the GOP.
Mayor Eric Johnson of Dallas, one of the country’s biggest cities, penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal titled “America’s Cities Need Republicans,” in which he declared he is leaving the Democratic 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.”
“Our cities desperately need the genuine commitment to these principles (as opposed to the inconsistent, poll-driven commitment of many Democrats) that has long been a defining characteristic of the GOP,” Johnson wrote in his op-ed.
“In other words, American cities need Republicans — and Republicans need American cities,” he continued. “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.”
Unlike many other big-city Democratic mayors, Johnson has been a full-throated supporter of police and law enforcement in general. Democratic mayors, including in Austin, Texas, have instead moved to defund police departments in the wake of the George Floyd murder and subsequent riots. The results have been predictable: Spikes in crime, low police morale, and difficulty recruiting officers.
Johnson posted a Fox News Digital story on social media in February detailing how police officers in Austin have been retiring in droves over low morale that stemmed from the defunding effort. He encouraged them to move to Dallas and apply to work in his city.
“When you have a mayor who supports the police not only in his words but his actions, you see what happens to crime in your city,” Austin Police Retired Officers Association Dennis Farris told Fox News Digital on Friday.
“Mayor Johnson has led from the front, and it showed when he was re-elected without one single challenger — that’s unheard of in a major U.S. city,” Farris said.
Johnson noted in his op-ed: “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. And it meant investing in family friendly infrastructure such as better parks and trails.”
“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,” he said.
He added:
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. 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.
