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Choosing Texas: House Candidates at the Midterm Convention
Confirmed
In Short: President Donald Trump led the first-ever Republican midterm convention in Dallas, where many GOP candidates faced a tough decision on whether to attend.
President Donald Trump led the first-ever Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday and Thursday, aiming to rally support for the party ahead of the November midterm elections.
The convention, held at the American Airlines Center, featured speeches from Republican officials and candidates, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Tim Scott.
The convention focused on key Republican issues such as taxes, border security, public safety, health care, energy, and the economy.
GOP lawmakers and candidates were also pushing to reclaim the cost-of-living issue, arguing that their party can still be trusted to bring down prices.
However, the convention came at a time when Republican control of Washington is on the line, with Democrats looking to flip both the House and Senate.
The event also provided candidates and members with an opportunity to tap into donors and other big spenders in town.
House Democrats, including California’s Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight committee, were heading to Dallas to counter the GOP convention’s message.
The convention's success will depend on whether it can generate voter enthusiasm that carries into the fall elections.
What this adds
The convention marks the first time a midterm election has featured a party-led gathering focused entirely on the sitting president.
What's confirmed
- President Donald Trump at the Republican convention Wednesday at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
What's still developing
- Attend, and risk being tied even more closely to an unpopular president just weeks before the midterm elections?
- Plenty of incumbents on the House battleground stayed away, though at least a few seized the spotlight.
- White Trump will attend alongside his Vice President, JD Vance ; no-shows will include top GOP senators, candidates in the tightest races in the country, and his own wife, who’ve all found somewhere else to be.
- Of more than 70 Republican candidates and members of Congress surveyed by Politico, a majority (45) said they either weren’t going or wouldn’t commit.
- This was meant to be the career-maker’s convention, held in honour of the man who anoints winners and is gathering chosen candidates around him ahead of an election that will be a referendum on his leadership.
- It marks the first “ midterm convention” in the history of his party — built entirely around him — and held over two nights in a downtown arena in Dallas.
- RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said the gathering is intended to present voters with a contrast between the two parties ahead of the midterm elections.
- No presidential nomination or other traditional convention business is taking place.
- Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton, Ted Cruz, Dan Patrick, congressional candidates, and Texas whistleblowers are among those set to speak in Dallas.
- Three Republican congressional candidates from Texas will also receive speaking slots: Eric Flores in Congressional District 34, Tano Tijerina in Congressional District 28, and Carlos De La Cruz in Congressional District 35.
- The challenge is converting loyalty to Trump into enthusiasm for Republican candidates across the country.
- Their efforts to summon it without him on the ballot will determine whether the inaugural GOP midterm convention changes the campaign or fades as a two-day spectacle.