In a recent turn of events, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson has publicly criticized what he calls the "culture of lawlessness" prevalent in cities governed by Democrats.
This comes after his announcement of switching his political affiliation from Democrat to Republican.
In an exclusive interview with "FOX & Friends" that aired on Friday, Mayor Johnson expressed his concerns about the Democratic Party's alleged abandonment of the Black community due to their anti-law enforcement stance.
"Very soon after the whole defund the police nonsense started, activists showed up at my house trying to intentionally scare my family and scare my children, scare me into changing my very, very clear position that we were not going to do that in Dallas," Johnson shared with host Lawrence Jones. He added, "That really was sort of the eye-opener in terms of this party is really serious about protecting the criminal element over the law-abiding folks and that they weren't really going to change."
Mayor Johnson, who grew up in the streets, believes he understands the needs of his constituents. "They want to live in a safe neighborhood and they don't want the police to leave. They want more police. They want those police to be trained well. They want them to be practitioners of community policing, but they want them there. They didn't want the police department defunded," he said.
Johnson's decision to switch parties was announced last month in a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled "Americas Cities Need Republicans, and Im Becoming One." He 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."
When asked about the potential reaction from the Black community, Johnson expressed optimism. "I actually believe that in time they're going to start to ask themselves, 'Why are we still Democrats? We trust him. He's never let us down.'"
Since assuming office in 2019, Johnson has been a staunch supporter of the police, a position that contrasts with other cities like Austin, Texas, which have moved to defund their police departments following the George Floyd riots. Johnson is now urging cities to reject the "lax" leadership of Democrats and encourage more Republicans to run at the local level to restore law and order.
"We need more Republican mayors. We can't afford to let the cities look like they look right now. From San Francisco to Chicago to Philadelphia to D.C., the news is filled every day with all this out-of-control, lawless behavior it's a culture of lawlessness. It's lax DAs on the Democratic side and it's local leaders, mayors on the Democratic side who've just created this environment," he said.
Johnson also suggested that voters need to "get past the personalities and be honest with yourself about what's important to you." He added, "The reality is, there's a really big gap at this point in time between who I am, what's important to me, what I'm about, and where the Democratic Party is and what's important to them and what they're about."
Login