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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    999 months ago

    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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    949 months ago

    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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      399 months ago

      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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      209 months ago

      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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        169 months ago

        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.

  • @Hotdogman@lemmy.world
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    729 months ago

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

  • @0xb@lemmy.world
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    659 months ago
    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.

      • El Barto
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        9 months ago

        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
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            19 months ago

            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.

              • El Barto
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                19 months ago

                Wait, am I on reddit or something?

                Where are these dead ass comments coming from?

      • @Lemonparty@lemm.ee
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        39 months ago

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

    • unalivejoy
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      119 months ago

      I think 2 is the only way to get Republican law makers to do anything about it.

  • @bobman@unilem.org
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    269 months ago

    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.

  • @Iwasondigg
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    249 months ago

    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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      19 months ago

      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)

      • @Iwasondigg
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        19 months ago

        I didn’t look at the alternative, but that’s who won. IIRC the troll candidate only got like 14%.

  • potpotato
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    229 months ago

    Unemployment declines under democratic leadership.

    Fiscal conservatism isn’t going to house people.

  • @profdc9@lemmy.world
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    189 months ago

    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.

  • @Lexam@lemmy.ca
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    139 months ago

    I’m not saying its ok to assinate people. But I can understand why it would happen.

    • Aesculapius
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      149 months ago

      Here is the correct quote from Winston Churchill: “If you’re not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you’re not a conservative at forty, you have no brain.”
      Also, conservatism in Churchill’s era is absolutely NOT what conservatism is now.

      • snooggums
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        49 months ago

        Churchill probably meant the literal meaning of conservative, which is slow to change. Doesn’t make his message much better though, since slow to change shouldn’t mean being slow with obvious social problems.

      • @bobman@unilem.org
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        9 months ago

        Yeah, “sayings” like this are just litmus tests for idiots at this point.

        Whenever someone leans on a “saying” as absolute truth, I know they’re a moron and shouldn’t be taken seriously.

  • @Armen12@lemm.ee
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    39 months ago

    A Republican Mayor in a Republican state doesn’t sound too unusual though, I mean, it sounds on par with Texas

      • @Armen12@lemm.ee
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        69 months ago

        I read the article, and your username is like something a 12 year old edge-lord would come up with

              • @bobman@unilem.org
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                19 months ago

                Well, Texas isn’t a purple state. It’s a red one.

                As far as blue city is concerned, he’s saying that it makes more sense for the red state of texas to have more republican mayors, which it does.

                So… I’m not really sure what your point is here.

    • @bradorsomething@ttrpg.network
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      49 months ago

      Yeah, Texas is kinda spiraling. The problem is the r’s make decisions that sound good short term and destroy things over time. The best purpose of a conservative party is to check the actions of a more liberal majority, not to lead.