Mayor Eric Johnson has spoken about diversity, ethics, crimes in Dallas, and his disapproval of Dowd’s reasoning for stepping down from the race.
Passing “meaningful ethics reform” was a priority for Mayor Eric Johnson when his term for the Mayor of Dallas began on June 17, 2019. The Dallas City Council has since approved the ethics reform package.
The package includes the addition of an Office of Inspector General that provides an investigator working full-time and possibly a “prosecutor to investigate city corruption claims,” according to WFAA.
Speaking of crime issues in Dallas, Johnson mentioned that homicides, aggravated assaults, and overall crimes of violence are all “down year-to-date.” He is crediting Eddie Garcia, who is Dallas’ Police Chief.
Johnson spoke out last week about diversity and showed disapproval about why Matthew Dowd ended his campaign to become the Lieutenant Governor of Texas. According to Fox News, in Dowd’s statement, he explained how he wanted to take a step back to “allow more diversity.”
Dowd stated, “A diverse field is now emerging in the Democratic primary for this office. I do not want to be the one who stands in the way of the greater diversity we need in politics.”
In a social media post, Johnson reacted to Dowd’s decision by stating, “I’m confused and a little disturbed by the reasoning here. Campaigns are precisely for the purpose of selecting the BEST candidate. It seems my friend is saying that Democratic primary voters are incapable of nominating women and minorities if there is a white man on the ballot.”
“If this is, in fact, the case, then shame on the Democratic primary voters… But for a white male candidate to stop running as Democrats to ‘give us a chance’ feels wrong to me… The problem is NOT white men running for office. The problem is the 800 lb gorilla in the room, which is the racism within the Democratic Party that many pretend doesn’t exist. So the solution isn’t folks like Dowd ‘yielding’ to candidates of color. It’s addressing the racism,” Johnson expressed.
Johnson’s term ends on June 12, 2023. He will be up for re-election but has not confirmed if he will run again as Mayor due to wanting to focus on the present and the issues he strongly believes in. “I will make that decision at some point next year… Right now, I am focused on getting through this term and continuing the successes we’ve had,” Johnson announced.
