Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson faces a new challenge. It is a recall petition to remove him from office.
The odds of success are stacked in Johnson's favor, but the activist behind the drive hopes to draw attention to the reasons for it.
Dallas activist Devante Peters is that activist, and he runs a South Oak Cliff health products store. He claimed Johnson failed voters.
“Our mayor is not showing up to work. His party switch was definitely a motivation, as well,” Peters said.
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Dallas city elections are nonpartisan, but Johnson was a Democrat when he served in the Texas House of Representatives before running for mayor, and he was always considered a Democrat in his first term as mayor.
After winning a second term in May 2023, Johnson announced a switch to the Republican Party in September. It came just after the Dallas City Council rejected his push for much lower property taxes.
Dallas County Democrats launched an online petition for Johnson’s resignation, which has attracted around 2,000 signers.
Southern Methodist University Political Science Professor Cal Jillson said the Dallas City Charter requires many more signatures for a recall.
“There are something like 690,000 registered voters, and you’ve got to get signatures from 15% of those, about 103,000. And only 48,000 votes were cast in the election that reelected Mayor Johnson. So it is a very steep hill to climb, almost impossible. That’s what you get when politicians write the rules over their own recall,” Jillson said.
However, the SMU expert agreed that Johnson’s party change is mysterious.
“It's a nonpartisan office. Why would you change and make an announcement about it and then start a Republican Mayors group that had not previously existed, and you are one of two or three members,” Jillson said.
Johnson has never explained his motive for the change except to say he feels his positions are more aligned with the GOP. It leaves the opportunity for others to speculate about Johnson’s motives.
“He’s using the voters, he’s using the taxpayers and the city to aggrandize himself for another position when he leaves office,” Peters said.
NBC 5 media partner, The Dallas Morning News, found records showing Johnson was absent from at least five meetings in 2023, more than any other member of the Dallas City Council. He cited political or city business reasons for missing three and personal medical or business reasons for the other two.
Five missed meetings still left the majority that Johnson did attend.
He did not respond to NBC 5’s request for comment.
Johnson won both mayoral elections by wide margins. He had only a write-in candidate for opposition in 2023.
