Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson announced Friday that he is switching parties and will serve as a Republican-affiliated mayor of the blue-leaning city.

While the Dallas mayoral office is nonpartisan, Johnson previously served as a Democrat in the Texas legislature. He slammed his former party in an op-ed for Wall Street Journal published Friday, blaming 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. “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.”

He added: “In other words, American cities need Republicans—and Republicans need American cities.”

Johnson’s announcement makes him the only Republican among the mayors of the 10 most populous cities in the US.

  • MicroWave@lemmy.worldOP
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    The Texas Democratic Party issued a scathing statement Friday, accusing Johnson of being dishonest with Dallas voters.

    “[T]he voters of Dallas deserved to know where he stood before he ran for reelection as Mayor,” the chair and vice-chair of the party said. “He wasn’t honest with his constituents, and knew he would lose to a Democrat if he flipped before the election.”

  • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
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    Why are we not running as fake conservatives in every race? Conservative voters are profoundly unintelligent and are bound to occassionally vote for us.

    We could make running as a republicant a trendy hobby. We could “take the challenge” to see who can can fuck the GOP the hardest.

    • flossdaily@lemmy.world
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      Honestly it’s probably not happening because spending that much time with that moronic cult would be torture.

    • darthelmet@lemmy.world
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      It only works the other way around because the money supports the right wing. Nobody’s gonna fund a secret lefty on the republican ticket.

      • tastysnacks@programming.dev
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        There’s a standard playbook. Just say the same things as Don or Ron. Talk about woke pineapple slices or something and you’re in. Just commit. Like Chris Rock said, Republicans don’t let “sense” fuck up their argument.

        • PickTheStick@lemmy.world
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          I’ve thought about doing it. For a while, I was in an area so ‘red’ that getting even 10% D votes was horrifying to the population. Trust me, you cannot keep up with the outrage porn and virtue-signaling required. Any critical thought will have you being looked at like an alien that just popped out of the moon.

          Plus, remember that the parties are private organizations. The people at ‘the top’ of those organizations, in the local and the state and the federal sense, are the people who decide who will be the next candidate. Unless you have Trump’s money, ‘charisma,’ and luck (read, being able to get free press from media because they’re all, gasp, horrified by what you said), you can’t break into politics as a R candidate without already knowing / rubbing elbows with those people.

  • 0xb@lemmy.world
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    1. How is this allowed?

    2. Since it’s allowed, why aren’t Dems taking advantage of the old switcheroo and packing every race with temporary conservatives only for switching back once elected? That would be the funniest thing.

    I mean if democracy is a joke may as well get some good out of playing it.

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        I mean if the other team plays dirty and you do the same, that’s just called playing even at that point.

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        This one Dem from the article just did exactly that, though…

        Edit: haha, nice downvotes. So you’re saying that the switching dude was a republican in disguise all the time?

          • El Barto@lemmy.world
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            Bhaha, nah brah. Lemmy is just a toy for me. I usually like people who argue actual points, even if wrong instead of saying “hurr durr u stoopid”, but that’s fine, it’s a free platform.

                • Lemonparty@lemm.ee
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                  Yeah you accidentally got lost leaving /r/neckbeard and ended up here. /r/incel will probably welcome you back with open arms.

    • unalivejoy@lemm.ee
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      I think 2 is the only way to get Republican law makers to do anything about it.

    • Ejh3k@lemmy.world
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      I’ve thought about primarying my rep. She’s one of the far left chuckle fucks, and I stand a decent chance of beating her due to the fact that I am 1. Male. 2. A veteran. 3. Tall.

      Where as she is a nut job, but blond.

  • Hotdogman@lemmy.world
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    I’m the mayor of this town and there’s too much crime. So I’m switching parties. That’ll fix things.

    • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one
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      In a state that has a Republican legislature and governor. So how do the Democrats get blamed for a town that has too much crime?

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    poll-driven commitment of many Democrats

    You mean the will of the people? You would subvert the will of the people for your own agenda?

    Hmm… sounds like a tyrant to me.

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      I think what he is trying to say is that democrats make promises to appear good at the polls and get elected and then do nothing about the promises or whatever.

      It’s stupid as fuck. Especially since, as a Democrat, he made a poll driven commitment to be a Democrat to get elected and then did nothing about that promise.

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    I accidentally voted for one of these people in the last election. In a local race, only two candidates so I voted for the one with a D next to his name. After I mailed in my ballot I got curious and went to his website, he was full on pro-Trump MAGA. Not even hiding the fact that he was running as a D to get dumbasses like me to vote for him. He got me good. Touché. Won’t be voting blind again. Stay vigilant!

    • davidgro@lemmy.world
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      Was your alternative any better? Sounds like a race with two Rs (which can happen legit in my state, primary is top two, but it’s more likely to be two Ds)

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    Unemployment declines under democratic leadership.

    Fiscal conservatism isn’t going to house people.

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    Maybe the Democratic party needs to vet their nominees better. Otherwise it’s not going to be a political party anymore, just a name to exploit.

  • vamp07@lemm.ee
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    Stop complaining. This country has the best politicians money can buy!

  • Lexam@lemmy.ca
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    I’m not saying its ok to assinate people. But I can understand why it would happen.

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    Meh. This really isn’t what it looks like. I’d guess he’s planning to run for a much higher office, specifically one where you do NOT get elected for such a position in Texas unless you have an R next to your name.