Only four months after winning re-election as a longtime Democrat, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson announced that he was defecting to the Republican party. Before assuming office, Johnson served nearly a decade in the Texas Legislature as a Democrat — making his decision to switch parties all the more shocking.
On Friday, Johnson announced his decision in an 0p-ed in the Wall Street Journal. “Today I am changing my party affiliation,” wrote Johnson. “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.”
In his op-ed, Johnson says that he won 98.7% of the vote in his re-election. Although it’s worth noting that was when he was running as a registered Democrat in a county that President Joe Biden overwhelmingly carried. The mayoral position is technically non-partisan, but it’s hard to argue that running as a registered Democrat in a deep-blue county didn’t have some impact on the vote.
Johnson criticized Democratic leadership, arguing that Democratic mayors (of which he was one until a few hours ago) have allowed cities to crumble into “disarray” and lawlessness. Johnson also pats himself on the back for standing up against the defund the police movement.
Johnson paints a picture of Democratic Mayors that is wholly incongruent with the state of play in blue cities. New York City’s Democratic Mayor, Eric Adams, is literally a former cop. And D.C.’s Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser has fought tooth and nail to prevent criminal justice reforms from going into effect.
He isn’t the only southern Democrat to defect to the Republican party in a dramatic fashion. In July, Georgia State Representative Mesha Mainor announced that she was switching to the Republican. Mainor, who served in a deep-blue Atlanta district, defended her decision by arguing that she was pushed out of the Democratic party. Mainor was criticized by Georgia Democrats but welcomed with open arms by folks like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene, who applauded her decision to move parties.
As for Johnson, there will surely be a ton of backlash, but maybe, like Mainor, he’ll make some friends in his new party.
Maybe its because people keep saying the Republicans hate them and then they come to find out that its not true. But also lots of minorities are very conservative in their beliefs. Plus Democrats and the left are very abrasive. Like saying the entire Republican party hates black people.
Yeah, fuck off with that. The conservatives I've talked to that loudly and proudly proclaim their various bigotries as badges of honor are far too many to count.
So what policies do Republicans have or implement that help POC?
We can all name lots of policies Democrats have implemented that do not help POC. Crime bill, welfare reform, war on drugs, private prisons with quotas, upholding systemic racism and the white supremacists ideology. It was built on. Democrats loved a tokenize the black community for their own benefit. Which is why the DNC is now pushing for millennials to support the party because Many in the black community have come to the conclusion the Democrats do not represent their interests
you didn't answer the question and just whatabouted all over it instead
You mean the way you whatabouted the comment you replied to?
Do they need laws for POC just to appear like they're not racist.
I've seen plenty of people that think laws specifically based on race is infantilizing.
Oh honey, don't
No you haven't. Why lie about such a stupid thing?
Being aggressively wrong is reddit shit.
https://youtu.be/hjbCS4c3Kk8?feature=shared
I'm not clicking that unless you tell me it is a video of you talking to people who are arguing that laws infantilized them.
Be better. This is foolish bullshit
Yea, you're not wrong. But doesn't disprove what I said.
It kinda does.