The two-day gathering, informally dubbed “Trumpapalooza,” will put Texas at the center of the political world as it hits the homestretch of its most competitive election cycle in years.
Republicans are gathering in Dallas this week for an unprecedented midterm convention, where President Donald Trump and his GOP allies will look to sell their agenda, rake in campaign cash and galvanize voters amid a difficult political climate.
The convention, a two-day affair at the American Airlines Center on the edge of downtown, will put Texas at the center of the political world as the state hits the homestretch of its most competitive election cycle in years.
Texas, a longtime GOP stronghold rich with conservative donors, is a natural landing spot for the party’s first ever midterm convention. But national Republicans will also arrive at a watershed moment for the party in Texas, as Democrat James Talarico threatens to end the GOP’s three decades of statewide electoral dominance in a Senate race that most analysts see as a tossup.
While Trump has thrice carried Texas and counts many of its top politicians as allies, his approval rating in the state has sagged since his 2024 election, where he posted his best margin in Texas of his three races. Just 43% of Texas voters approved of his job performance in last month’s Texas Politics Project poll, putting him 8 points underwater in the state hosting his midterm bash.
Among Trump’s closest allies in the nation is Attorney General Ken Paxton, whom the president elevated earlier this year by endorsing him in the Republican primary runoff over Sen. John Cornyn. Paxton is now in a tight contest against Talarico, with control of the Senate — and Trump’s ability to pursue legislative accomplishments in his final two years — at stake. On the stump, Paxton frequently reminds voters of the national importance of the race, saying that if Republicans lose Texas, “we’ve lost the country.”
Control of Congress’ lower chamber could also turn on Texas — and in particular, in a handful of congressional races in the southern, heavily-Latino part of the state where Republicans redrew districts last year, at Trump’s request, to yield more GOP seats. Those races could instead deliver Democrats the U.S. House majority if the GOP fails to reverse its eroding Latino support by Election Day.
Republicans hope to kickstart that effort this week in Dallas, where the GOP’s top politicians will be on display with no official platform to pass or delegate votes to count — freeing them to focus on energizing their base for November.
Republicans have pitched the convention as an opportunity to do just that, with the fates of everyone from Paxton to down-ballot candidates potentially reliant on lower-propensity MAGA voters, who helped deliver the GOP a trifecta in Washington in 2024 but have proven unreliable when Trump is not on the ballot. Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican National Committee, has described the event as a “Trumpapalooza,” making clear that candidates who show up are associated with the president.
Democrats, meanwhile, are deploying their own elected officials to Dallas for counterprogramming, and they believe the Trump-forward display could whip their own voters up into a frenzy with early voting less than six weeks away
Vice President JD Vance will deliver a keynote address on Wednesday evening, the first night of the convention, and Trump will close out the event with a speech Thursday. The rest of the schedule is devoted to highlighting the GOP’s most popular achievements from the first half of Trump’s term — much of them enacted through Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act — and emphasizing the contrast between the parties by painting Democrats as far-left extremists.
Ten Texas politicians and candidates will take the stage along with the president and Republican party leaders. The list includes Paxton, Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Sen. Ted Cruz. Several Texas members of Congress and congressional candidates — most of them in highly competitive races — will speak as well, including three of the five nominees in seats redrawn last summer with the intention of flipping them to GOP control.
The Texas speakers include Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Flower, Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, and candidates Carlos De La Cruz, Eric Flores and Tano Tijerina. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson will also address the convention.
In an interview on Patrick’s podcast last week, Trump said he wanted to recreate the same energy generated by conventions in presidential election years.
“The conventions have been great, and a lot of good things happen,” Trump said. “And it brings unity.”
Source: , The Texas Tribune
Photo Credit: The video board inside the American Airlines Center displays the logo for Republicans’ upcoming midterm convention during a media walkthrough in Dallas on Aug. 5, 2026. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
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