President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the Republican Party will hold its first national convention ahead of a midterm election in Dallas on Sept. 9 and 10, an unusual move for a party trying to tighten its grip on Congress before November.
Trump said the gathering will be used to celebrate the "great American comeback" and to showcase what he described as the successes of his presidency, with hard-working Americans, innovators, entrepreneurs, manufacturers, first responders and job creators part of the event. For Republicans, the timing is no accident. They are heading into November trying to protect razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate, and the Texas Senate race is already one of the most closely watched contests on the board.
Ken Paxton, who won the Republican nomination in a runoff election in May, is set to face James Talarico for the Senate seat now held by John Cornyn. Recent polling has put that race within single digits, and the latest survey from The Texas Politics Project described the contest between Paxton and Talarico as extremely close. In that setting, a party convention is more than a stage show; it is a turnout operation built to keep voters engaged in a state that could help decide the balance of power in Washington, DC.
The unusual part is that major party conventions are usually reserved for presidential election years, not the midterm cycle. Matthew Wilson said that is why the decision stands out. “Typically, parties don’t have national conventions during the midterm cycle, but it signals, I think, a desire on the Republicans’ part to rally the troops,” he said. Wilson added that Texas gives Republicans a strong place to try to build momentum and encourage greater turnout in this fall’s electoral cycle.
The location also points to how carefully the party appears to have been thinking about the event. Republicans started exploring the idea in March, and representatives of the National Republican Party toured the American Airlines Center in late February, where they were given rental information that included technical details and fee estimates. Dave Brown said the average rental fee is about $125,000 per day. Dallas was reportedly the only Texas city under consideration, with Las Vegas also in contention, suggesting the party wanted a setting big enough for a national show but close enough to its current political targets.
Trump’s announcement now locks in the schedule, but it leaves the real question untouched: what Republicans plan to unveil there. The party has the date, the city and the message. What it has not yet spelled out is the specific program it will use in Dallas to turn a one-off convention into momentum for the races that will decide the House and Senate in November.
