Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson says he's changing his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.
The two-term mayor made the announcement in an editorial published Friday morning in The Wall Street Journal.
"I have no intention of changing my approach to my job. But today I am changing my party affiliation," Johnson wrote. "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."
Dallas Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn King Arnold said this should not affect local government.
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"To me, this is something that should not alarm any member or citizen of Dallas," King said. "We have a responsibility, and we are going to continue to serve. I know that's my commitment."
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott was quick to welcome Johnson to the party saying, "he's pro law enforcement and won't tolerate leftist agendas."
Dallas Morning News political writer Gromer Jeffers speaking to NBC 5 said Johnson has always been a fiscal conservative, fought against cutting funds to police and battled with progressives on the city council.
So he doesn't see anything changing for Johnson.
"Although voters may feel a certain way about him switching parties because this is a blue city and blue county he'll have to deal with that but on the surface, the post is a nonpartisan post so he'll continue to be the mayor he's been in the past," Jeffers said.
The question now is whether the party switch is Johnson preparing for future political goals.
"It's hard to run as a Republican in Dallas County and many areas in Dallas and win as well," Jeffers said. "So he's probably looking at some type of state office down the road. Maybe an appointment or something like that."
But as for now in Dallas, Arnold said political affiliations won't control the work of the council.
"We do acknowledge the fact that we do live in a political environment," Arnold said. "We understand that. But what we must understand is that our calling of service is not based on a political affiliation."
Matt Rinaldi, chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, also took to X on Friday morning to welcome Johnson to the fold.
"We are thrilled to have @johnson4Dallas join the Republican Party. In his tenure as mayor he has set the example by fighting to lower property taxes, resisted efforts to defund the police and make Dallas safer. We look forward to working with him to make Dallas better," Rinaldi wrote.
Texas Democratic Party expressed a lack of surprise at the switch.
“But the voters of Dallas deserved to know where he stood before he ran for reelection as Mayor,” the party said in a statement. “He wasn’t honest with his constituents, and knew he would lose to a Democrat if he flipped before the election.”
During his mayoral run, Johnson has embraced policies denounced by Democrats elsewhere in Texas, including using state troopers to police cities.
Johnson, who was a longtime Democrat when he represented Dallas while serving five terms in the Texas House of Representatives, said when he became mayor in 2019 that he was "relieved to be free from hyperpartisanship and ready to focus on solving problems." The Dallas mayor's office is, after all, a nonpartisan office.
With the party switch, Johnson will be the only Republican leader in America's 10 largest cities. He said, however, he intends to keep the promises he made to Dallas voters to not endorse candidates seeking partisan office while mayor and will "continue to pursue my three-pronged goal for Dallas: to become the safest major city in America with the best park system in Texas and the lowest taxes in our fast-growing North Texas region."
Earlier this week, Johnson pushed back on the city's recently approved city budget of $4.6 billion, saying he could not vote for a budget that was the largest in the history of the city and that is paid for by raising taxes on residents and businesses.
"It is preposterous to suggest that our city government could not, by being more efficient, deliver essential services next year using the same amount of tax revenue collected from Dallas residents and businesses just a year ago," Johnson wrote on X.
Johnson failed to win sufficient support for a big property tax rate reduction he had been requesting and by a vote of 10 to 5 the Dallas City Council gave final approval to City Manager T.C. Broadnax's budget, which included a smaller property tax rate reduction.
While talking Friday at The Texas Tribune Festival about his recent vote to not increase the city budget, Johnson said the only city services he used growing up in a poor family were trash collection, police, fire, parks and recreation, libraries, streets and water.
Johnson was first elected Dallas mayor in 2019 and was reelected to a four-year term in May after facing only a write-in candidate on the ballot. Dallas mayors are limited to serving two consecutive terms.
