Last month, Democratic Dallas mayor Eric Johnson rattled some cages nationally when he declared the “Big D” no longer applied to him. He wasn’t referring to the “D” in Dallas, but the one in his party affiliation.

As of this moment, the mayor asserted, I am a Republican.

I have been mayor of Dallas for more than four years. During that time, my priority has been to make the city safer, stronger and more vibrant. That meant saying no to those who wanted to defund the police. It meant fighting for lower taxes and a friendlier business climate. And it meant investing in family friendly infrastructure such as better parks and trails.

That approach is working. Alone among America’s 10 most populous cities, Dallas has brought violent crime down in every major category, including murder, year-over-year for the past two years. In a recent Gallup poll asking Americans to rate the safety of major cities, Dallas came out on top. We have also reduced our property tax rate every year since I took office, signaling to investors that Dallas intends to remain the nation’s most pro-business city. This philosophy has helped attract growing small businesses and several Fortune 500 companies, including Goldman Sachs, the construction-engineering firm Aecom and the global commercial real-estate outfit CBRE.

After these wins for the people of Dallas—and after securing 98.7% of the vote in my re-election campaign this year—I have no intention of changing my approach to my job. But today I am changing my party affiliation. 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.

He sounds like one, too, and has been walking the walk for so long, where there were national raptures for the swap, locals – especially formerly fellow Democrats – were blasé at best, snarky and dismissive at worst.

…Johnson’s switch came as little shock to Dallas political observers, who said he has been signaling for some time his leaning toward the GOP — and his distancing from Democrats.

“This is one of the worst kept secrets in the world of politics,” said Vinny Minchillo, a Dallas-area Republican consultant. “This has been coming down for a long time.”

State Rep. John Bryant, a Dallas Democrat, took to the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to quip about Johnson’s announcement.

“Switching parties? I didn’t know he was a Democrat,” Bryant wrote.

There’s also a bit of speculation what the next moves are once Johnson’s term is up, and maybe just a frosting of sour grapes from Democrats. They complain the he should have announced his party switch prior to running, as Dallas is a solidly Democratic town, but a guy who won with dang near 99% of the vote? Would that have mattered? I mean, it was a cakewalk into office – obviously they like the man and what he was doing, whatever shade of party he might have been wearing at the time.

…“I don’t believe that it sets the tone for where the priorities are,” Dallas City Council Member Adam Bazaldua said. “In fact, that’s why I believe it would have been nice for voters to have the opportunity of knowing that party affiliation prior to going to the ballot box in May.”

Politicos interpreted Johnson’s switch as a precursor to a potential bid for statewide office — which Democrats have been locked out of for decades.

“You’ve got to be a Democrat to win in Dallas,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.

“You’ve got to be a Republican to win in Texas.”

Now that all the hubbub has died down some, Johnson is talking freely about his switch. And, since he no longer has to attend mayor’s conferences with big blue city companions, he is free to call out their shortcomings and not worry about getting jumped in the men’s room or left off of Christmas card lists.

Dallas Mayor SLAMS the failing Dems: “Fiscally conservative leaders at the local level, we need that, we need people who are going to promote safety in our cities.”

“That’s why I had to leave the Democratic Party – it doesn’t represent my values at all.”pic.twitter.com/68MibHO9mo

— Proud Elephant 🇺🇸🦅 (@ProudElephantUS) October 30, 2023

Calling them on the carpet is precisely what he’s doing and, as a mayor who has forged a warm working relationship with his own police chief – Chief Eddie Garcia – he’s no Johnny-come-lately to supporting the cops for campaign effect, so that accusation from Democrats rings completely hollow. What a surprise, no?

…“It all starts at the top in a city,” said Johnson. “The mayor, along with the police chief, have to set the tone and they have to set the policy to keep residents of their city safe.”

Johnson stated that three-quarters of the nation’s major cities are run by Democrats, and that the rising violent crime in cities stems from Democrats saying the crime waves are derived from issues such as economic difficulties and therefore outside of their control.

“The reality is, these things have always been present. We’re always going to have economic ups and downs, we’re always going to have challenges,” he continued. “Our education system has always had its challenges. But what we haven’t always had are the levels of homicides and other forms of violent crime that we’re having right now.”

Of the ten major cities in the country, with Johnson’s party switch, that means 9 of them have Democrats for mayors.

Pick any one and check out what the mayor’s thumping on Dems about.

In San Francisco, the city supervisors and mayor can’t get out of their own way fighting about defunding or funding the police, even as crime skyrockets. It might not matter anyway, and you know why?

Because no one in their right mind – no matter how much money they chuck at it – wants to be a cop in San Francisco. They can’t pay people enough to take the job.

…Walton called Dorsey’s plan “unenforceable” and “misleading to the public.” He said it is a “myth” that voters can set minimum staffing standards when the shortage is a result of not enough people wanting to enter the police academy, Walton said.

The city last year set aside $25 million in supplemental funds to the Police Department to deal with the shortage, and Chief Bill Scott pledged to use the money to attract new recruits. No police academy class in the last year has been able to attract more than 30 recruits, and often a handful drop out during the process or leave after completing training.

“The work should be about getting people excited about serving so we can fill our academies with folks who want to help,” Walton said. “We have the resources to fund the Police Department: The department is fully funded. And we can’t fill academies. It’s a myth to think you can guarantee staffing numbers and it’s a sham to create an image of such a guarantee.”

Do you think for one second the battling SF supervisors will ever figure out why no one wants to be a cop in their crappy Progressive city?

‘Tis to laugh.

In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson – of defending “youth acting stupidly” fame – has been overseeing the descent of his city into chaos that even Lori Lightfoot detractors didn’t think possible. They thought she was the end all and be all of mayoral pits. Hah!

Stolen cars are now not get-away vehicles so much as illegal entry facilitation devices. It’s easy and convenient to put a Jeep through a plate glass door rather than try to break it yourself. Saves on BandAids and Neosporin.

That’s one strong jeep, barely a scratch for the damage it caused. I hope these businesses have insurance because our elected officials are ignoring them.

— Yair (@Skeme8484) October 29, 2023

Of course, the thug foot patrols are still out and as busy as ever…

At least 12 people have been robbed or carjacked since last night as armed holdup crews returned to Logan Square and nearby neighborhoods.https://t.co/Nm9ZdlKeuc

— CWBChicago (@CWBChicago) October 29, 2023

…but, no worries. Should an officer apprehend you, Chicago’s progressive administration will make sure there’s a highly trained civilian review board to flay that unlucky officer alive. I’ll just guess there’s extra points awarded for flaying a white officer.

The city of Chicago will now be employing civilian employees to train police officers and civilian analysts to review, make judgements on and make recommendations for uses of force by Chicago Police Department officers.

No police experience needed to be a training officer, 5… pic.twitter.com/cNAlDdn9n7

— 16th & 17th District Chicago Police Scanner (@CPD1617Scanner) October 30, 2023

Those are a few quick examples of what Mayor (Dallas) Johnson is referring to. Ironically, while bemoaning Johnson’s party swap, the Democratic mayor of Houston listed a few more “success” stories.

Yee Gods, dude. Do your research before you cheerlead for the team.

…In an interview with Tribune co-founder Evan Smith on Friday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said he was “disappointed that Eric feels as though he has to leave a thriving ship to get on a sinking one.”

“But sometimes people make decisions for various reasons. So I respect his personal decision,” he said. “But I will tell you when we look at San Antonio, and Austin and Houston, all across the state of Texas, I think you will find that mayors and Democratic mayors are doing an exceptional job across this country.”

Out of the 10 most dangerous cities in Texas, Houston and San Antonio are 1 and 2. Austin has less than a million people and still made a national list as the number 15 city “with a homicide problem.”

Austin is the city with the 15th biggest homicide rate problem, according to a new WalletHub study.

Dallas has its issues for sure, too, but it also has a majority Democratic City council who had their own ‘defund the police’ spasms. And the city is short a boatload of officers.

…“We need to hire, frankly, more police officers and do more of the things we’re doing here in Dallas, like hotspot policing that’s been working for us,” Johnson.

As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the Dallas Police Department has been seriously understaffed for years, maintaining fewer than 3,200 officers even though a City analysis determined that some 4,000 were necessary to properly maintain public safety.

The effects of the shortage are apparent in Downtown Dallas, which logs significantly more criminal incidents compared to Fort Worth’s downtown area. The latter is reportedly patrolled by a special neighborhood police unit that works alongside private security guards.

Mayor Johnson has 3 more years to get things really rolling. It will be interesting to see if the city council keeps doing what’s working, or fights him tooth and nail now that the big “D” is gone from beside his name.