Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson is getting divorced from his wife amid allegations that he had an affair with a former City staffer in 2021.
The mayor’s office refused to comment on the allegations in a phone call with The Dallas Express, stating that Johnson would only comment on policy issues. His pending divorce was first reported on by D Magazine on Valentine’s Day.
Both Johnson and the former staffer, whose name has not been disclosed, claim the allegation of an affair was untrue. D Magazine reported that Johnson informed his wife that he intended to file for divorce in March 2023, while she was washing dishes.
His soon-to-be ex-wife, Nikita Johnson, was accused of leaking details of the affair and the pending divorce to D Magazine after a blog post from editor Tim Rogers last April joked about Johnson’s attire during a Dallas City Council meeting.
“Way more interesting is what Mayor Eric Johnson chose to wear today,” Rogers wrote. “Check out that sweet leather jacket! The mayor is definitely giving off a hey-ladies-this-divorced-dad-is-back-on-the-market vibe. I mean, it looks to me like any minute he’s going to light up a Menthol Kool. I endorse this look.”
In a later blog post, Rogers clarified that he was only making a joke at the mayor’s expense, but the fallout from the comment led to accusations that Nikita Johnson had leaked information to the press. Nikita denied speaking to anyone at D Magazine about the divorce and claimed she had “no desire” to damage the mayor’s reputation.
“As many who have been through the end of a marriage can understand, this has been an especially painful and messy process — and it is even more challenging to have this process play out publicly,” a statement to WFAA from Mayor Johnson read.
According to D Magazine, the woman with whom Johnson allegedly had an affair was seen on Johnson’s doorbell camera entering and leaving the Johnson residence in February 2021. The woman reportedly shared a hotel room with Johnson on a two-week trip to Montreal, Canada, in July 2023, after Johnson had already initiated the divorce proceedings. Mayor Johnson claimed during the court hearing that although the woman was present during “pretty much” the whole trip, they did not sleep together in the same bed, and he did not have sexual contact with her.
The Johnsons married in 2007 and have three children together.
A recall effort against Johnson is currently underway, though the effort is fueled by Johnson’s switching his political party affiliation from Democrat to Republican and his alleged failure to show up at many Dallas City Council meetings. The effort will require more than 103,000 signatures before the council will take up the matter, but as of last week, only about 6,000 signatures had been collected ahead of the March 5 deadline. A website for the recall effort claims that Johnson collectively missed more than three months of meetings during his first term as mayor.
