The Republican Party opens its first-ever midterm convention this week, looking to spark sorely needed energy and a bump in the polls for GOP candidates.
The party has planned a two-day confab in Dallas beginning on Wednesday that features President Trump delivering the keynote speech on both nights.
For the first time, the party will invite the public to buy tickets to attend the convention — dubbed Trump-a-palooza — and organizers expect 20,000 people to attend.
Mr. Trump, appearing on a Sept. 2 podcast with Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, pushed back against labeling the event a mini-convention.
“It’s going to be big stuff,” Mr. Trump said.
Some Republican candidates and lawmakers said they’re skipping the event due to scheduling conflicts, campaign debates or other commitments. But House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that “a huge number” of GOP members of Congress and Republican hopefuls plan to attend.
“I think it’s going to be an extraordinary opportunity for us to get a couple of nights on national television to talk about our extraordinary record of achievement and to push back against the false narratives that a lot of people in the media have advanced about this Congress,” he said.
It won’t be like a typical Republican National Convention, which takes place every four years for the primary purpose of nominating the party’s candidate for president and vice president.
There won’t be any nominations or votes on the GOP’s platform, but the rest of the program will look a lot like a typical party convention.
Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters said the event, which runs Wednesday through Thursday at the American Airlines Arena, will showcase candidates in key races and highlight the party’s accomplishments.
“Each hour will have its own theme, its own message, and its own voices, building toward President Donald Trump’s vision for the next chapter of American greatness. This will be unlike any political convention America has seen before,” Mr. Gruters said.
More than 100 speakers are lined up. Programming will also feature the president’s successes, among them lowering prescription drug prices through negotiations with pharmaceutical companies and launching the TrumpRX discount site.
The agenda will highlight the president’s efforts to protect workers through his trade and tariff policy and his border security policies that have essentially ended rampant illegal immigration.
According to organizers, Mr. Trump’s remarks will hammer home the party’s “sharpest partisan case against the extreme liberal Democrats,” which is likely to home in on the party’s expanding faction of socialists.
The National Republican Congressional Committee is asking GOP lawmakers to shell out $25,000 to attend the convention with a guest.
The price, NRCC Campaign Finance Chair Beth Van Duyne of Texas told TMZ, is “an incentive” to ensure Republicans “are all supporting our party.” The money will go to helping candidates in competitive races in swing districts, she said.
Typically lawmakers don’t pay to attend the four-year conventions because they attend as delegates.
But lawmakers in both parties are expected to pay hefty annual member dues to their respective fundraising arms. Parties have reserved luxury convention packages, including preferred hotels and tickets to special receptions for members who have paid all of their dues.
The GOP’s midterm convention takes place as the party battles sagging poll numbers ahead of the midterms and sweats over competitive races in once-solid districts.
The party controls both the House and Senate but could lose both chambers in November if Republican candidates fail to score victories in close, swing-district and statewide races.
Key races in typical GOP strongholds, among them the U.S. Senate races in Texas and Iowa, are suddenly competitive as Democrats hammer the GOP on the high cost of living that is vexing voters.
Texas has long been a GOP stronghold and one of the most Trump-friendly states in the country. But polls show the Senate race there is a dead heat between Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton.
Mr. Paxton, the Texas attorney general, is underperforming Mr. Trump in districts the president won by double digits in 2024.
The Republican Party’s standing with voters has suffered in the face of persistent inflation and high gasoline prices that spiked following the U.S. attack on Iran. The economic figures have drowned out the GOP’s messaging on their signature tax cut law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which saved the average household $2,900 in taxes and reduced taxes on overtime pay and Social Security benefits.
Mr. Trump said on the Texas lieutenant governor’s podcast that Mr. Paxton will be a focus of the convention and one of the featured speakers.
“We gotta get him elected,” Mr. Trump said.
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