GOP midterm convention lives up to its ‘Trump-a-Palooza’ hype

DALLAS — The Republican National Committee’s first-ever midterm convention lived up to its “Trump-a-palooza” nickname as the two-day Dallas bash kicked off Wednesday.

Posters of the president — from Oval Office meetings to his triumphant stance in Butler, Pa., — dotted the American Airlines Center’s walls. Red, white and blue baseball caps emblazoned with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan were for sale at the convention’s merch stop. And attendees from Texas and beyond were quick to say that the president was their main reason for showing up.

“Trump,” said Amy Osterman, an Illinoisan attending her first party convention, when asked what she was looking forward to about the program. “I’m just excited to get reenergized for the midterms. Like, let’s go. We need to do this.”

The outsized focus on Trump, who is not on the ballot this fall, comes as some Republicans admit to mixed feelings about whether vulnerable candidates should align themselves so closely with the president amid his lackluster approval numbers, with some battleground lawmakers steering clear of the Lone Star State.

“In actuality, I really am running. We don’t really know it but we are. I mean, we’re running together,” Trump said as he capped off the convention’s first night. “We have to have Congress. We have to have the majorities. If we don’t have the majorities, so much can be lost.”

The president implored Republicans to “pretend that I’m on the ballot,” and went on to offer up a $5,000 dividend incentive to every American adult if his party keeps Democrats from taking back the House this fall. He called them “Trump dividends” and said they had to be spent in the U.S.

Fifty-five days out from the election, Trump and other Republicans leaned in heavily on messaging that a blue wave election would wreak havoc on the president’s record and prevent the GOP from moving forward on his “America First” priorities.

“If we hand America’s future to the radical left Democrats … our nation will spend the next decade just getting back on its feet,” Trump said, adding that this “would be a tragedy.”

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that the “ideals of 1776” are “under threat” from Democrats, claiming the party would reopen the border “immediately” if they returned to power.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) blasted Democrats over recent primary successes from progressive Democrats, some of whom are members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

“To the American people listening, I say, if all you want out of life is what little these communists are offering, I guess that’s your right. Or you can join Donald J. Trump and Republicans, and have the opportunity to realize your greatest dreams,” Emmer said.

Other top Republican figures ripped their Democratic rivals as “dangerous.”

One Democrat even made a surprise appearance at the convention Wednesday, ripping the party’s shift to the left.

“I’m always going to reject the extremes in socialism and that anti-American way of life,” Sen. John Fetterman said in a prerecorded video introducing his Republican colleague Sen. Dave McCormick to the convention stage.

The convention, the first held by a major party outside of a presidential election year, comes amid as the GOP’s midterm outlook grows increasingly bleak .

In analysis last week, Cook Political Report suggested that Republicans’ “nightmare scenario” had now become the most likely midterm landscape. Decision Desk HQ now forecasts that the House leans in favor of Democrats — and, while the Senate is close to a coin toss, Democrats are narrowly favored in the upper chamber, too.

DDHQs latest polling average shows Trump’s approval rating is roughly 18 percentage points underwater, with just 39 percent giving his job handling a thumbs-up. Democrats also have a 7-point advantage on a generic congressional ballot.

Against that backdrop, Republicans are hopeful that the convention will excite their base and drive turnout in the fall.

But others have signaled the optics of the so-called convention aren’t ideal as vulnerable candidates navigate voter frustration over Trump’s moves on the economy, the war in Iran and more.

A Politico survey of more than 70 Republican candidates and lawmakers last week found that more than half planned to skip the event. Some of the most at-risk Republicans this year, including Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), are expected to be absent.

As he addressed the crowd, Trump described the arena as “packed,” pushing back on characterizations of a small crowd — though swathes of seats and suites, which can hold some 20,000 attendees, appeared sparse following concerns about the timing and attraction of the convention. T he Hill has reached out to the RNC for attendance figures.

Still, more than a dozen attendees told The Hill that Trump was the biggest draw.

Steve Novak, who went to the 2024 convention in Milwaukee, traveled from Minnesota for the president’s pair of speeches. Rosie Swanson, a Texan attending her first Republican convention, said she “would’ve come from anywhere” to see the president at the event.

Elsewhere in Dallas, Democrats embraced the convention as their own political opportunity, with counterprogramming from House Democrats, Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico and more.

Talarico, who’s ahead of Trump-backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in recent polling of the Senate race, took part in a media blitz alongside a statewide “Love Thy Neighbor” food drive. He described the convention as Republicans “toasting to their own corruption,” as reported by the Associated Press.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate who recently launched a new PAC aimed at helping elect Democrats. stopped in Texas on Wednesday, hammering Vice President Vance, Trump’s 2028 heir apparent. He also called the convention “bizzare.”

Multiple progressive groups, labor unions and others — including Next Generation Action Network, Powered by the People, Texas Democrats and the AFL-CIO — are planning demonstrations in Dallas on Thursday, when Vance will address the crowd and Trump will give a second speech.

Mallory Wilson contributed to this report.