Mayor Eric Johnson hosted a small get-together with his supporters at Odom’s Bar-B-Que in the neighborhood of South Dallas last Thursday night in celebration of the 13th anniversary of his first election to public office.
His supporters gathered to eat while waving Mayor Johnson’s yard signs at passing cars on Singleton Boulevard.
Johnson was first elected to represent House District 100 in the Texas House of Representatives in 2010 in a special election.
His election announcement to run for mayor of Dallas surprised political observers as he was seen as a rising star in the Texas Legislature. Before his race for mayor, he stood as the only Democratic candidate for Texas House Speaker.
Johnson was then elected mayor with 55.61% of the vote in a 2019 runoff election.
Now, in 2023, Mayor Johnson spent the evening at Odom’s Bar-B-Que conversing with locals and listening to concerns as well as sharing stories from his time in public service.
He will soon be re-elected mayor in May’s elections unopposed, the first time a Dallas mayor will be re-elected unopposed since 1967.
It was Mayor Johnson’s local style and approachability that drew two local high school students to the event to volunteer to hand out yard signs.
Roman Childress, a sophomore at St. Mark’s School of Texas, told The Dallas Express that he volunteered for Mayor Johnson’s event because the mayor has been a family friend and asked him to help out with political events.
“I’ve known Mr. Johnson for a while… he asked me for help with these political events and I have free time and said sure, so here I am.”
He also said that even though he does not follow the city council’s business closely, he watched the news and thinks Mayor Johnson has done a good job combating crime.
“I’m not big into, or very knowledgeable about city politics but I have kept up with the news and crime being down, so I think that’s pretty big.”
He summed up his support by conveying his personal admiration for the mayor.
“Also, he’s just a very, very nice guy.”
Akiba Yavneh Academy sophomore Darren Sacher echoed Childress’ sentiments telling The Dallas Express that he also believes Mayor Johnson has done a good job bringing down crime over the past year.
“I agree. Crime being down is a big thing for me.”
While the claim that overall crime in Dallas is down year over year is true, violent crime has increased substantially in the past year. The Dallas Express closely covers crime trends in the Crime Boss series.
According to the Dallas Police Department’s crime analytics dashboard, murder and non-negligent manslaughters are up 22.7% year over year. Rape is also up 7.7% over the past year, along with kidnapping and abductions, which are up a staggering 52.6%.