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Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson slams Democrats on public safety, immigration in RNC speech

Johnson, who switched to the GOP last year, said his former party doesn’t care about stopping criminals, securing the border or addressing encampments of the homeless.

On stage at the Republican National Convention, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson stuck to Tuesday’s theme of making America safe again by detailing what made the self-described former “conservative Democrat” reconsider party affiliation.

He called out Democrats on public safety during his nearly 5-minute speech by recounting an incident in 2020 during which he said progressive activists stood outside his home to intimidate his family as they called on Dallas to defund its police force.

“When those activists tried to scare my kids, my fellow Democrats were silent. It was Republicans who offered their support, both privately and publicly,” he said to applause. “Party affiliation didn’t matter. They cared about doing what was right.”

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Johnson introduced himself to attendees at the Milwaukee convention and others watching at home as “the proud Republican mayor of Dallas, Texas, the largest city in the United States led by a Republican.” Both statements drew applause.

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He lamented that Democrats “were never actually there for me, for Dallas families or for the American people.”

“With their words and their actions — and sometimes with their silence and their inaction — Democrats in power demonstrate they don’t care about stopping the killers or the thieves who terrorize Black and brown communities,” he said. “They don’t care about securing our border, and they don’t care about dangerous homeless encampments. No, the heart of today’s woke Democrat Party is with the criminals, not with their victims.”

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Republicans offer communities a better way, he said, touting Dallas’ three consecutive years of violent crime reduction.

“Today, Dallas is viewed as America’s safest large city, and Republicans lead 11 of the top 15 safest cities,” he said to more applause. “And that’s because Republicans won’t be silent about public safety.”

“Together,” he concluded, “let’s make America safe again by retiring Joe Biden and electing Donald J. Trump.”

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Johnson, who served nine years in the statehouse as a Democrat, announced in September 2023 a party switch to the GOP. The move came months after he won reelection as a Democrat for a second and final term as mayor.

“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,” he wrote in a Wall Street Journal editorial. “In other words, American cities need Republicans — and Republicans need American cities.”

Representatives from the Trump campaign and Republican National Convention included Johnson in its list of convention headliners, touting that the Dallas mayor is a former Democrat.

Other Texas officials invited to speak at the convention include Gov. Greg Abbott, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Reps. Ronny Jackson of Amarillo, Monica De La Cruz of Edinburg and Wesley Hunt of Houston.

Hunt spoke Monday. Cruz spoke after Johnson on Tuesday. Abbott and De La Cruz are expected to address the convention Wednesday.

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