Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, in a recent conversation with Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz, revealed that his decision to leave the Democratic Party sparked a wave of "panicked" phone calls.

Johnson, an African American, was brought up in a deeply religious household in west Dallas, where his family, though not politically inclined, habitually voted Democrat. His shift to the Republican Party was publicly announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in September 2023, where he underscored his commitment to reducing taxes and prioritizing public safety over police defunding.

Johnson, during his appearance on Monday's episode of the "Verdict with Ted Cruz" podcast, stated, "You kind of inherit the Democratic Party as a cultural heirloom when you're African American in this country. It sort of gets handed to you as part of who you are." He further revealed that his party switch elicited more distressed calls than if he had announced his departure from the church. "I will say that loudly and on the record," he affirmed.

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The Dallas Mayor explained his transition to the Republican Party as a result of a mismatch between the "story of [his] life" and the Democratic Party's rhetoric and political agenda. He described the calls he received post-switch as being from "well-meaning" family and friends expressing concern, while others resorted to "traditional standard partisan warfare" and resolved to "take this guy down now."

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Johnson criticized the Democratic Party's core belief that one's life outcomes in America are largely determined by factors beyond one's control, such as race and birthplace. "It excuses away your failures and it excuses away your successes to something outside of your control," he said.

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He continued, "If you're successful and you're white it's because, of course, you are. And if you're unsuccessful and an African American, well, the deck was stacked against you. And I just wasn't a person who ever believed that."

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Johnson concluded by emphasizing his personal experience of meritocracy. "At every turn, if I put the work in, I was told repeatedly, over and over by people who didn't look like me, we're proud of you and we'd like to give you more opportunity. I wasn't having doors slammed in my face the harder I pushed, I was having more opportunities given to me," he said.