As Republicans wrapped up their first-of-its-kind midterm convention on Sept. 10, Democrats said that they made the right choice not holding their own.
In the summer of 2025, both parties weighed hosting a gathering for party members as a chance to rally supporters, showcase their benches of rising stars and raise money.
President Donald Trump’s two-day event in Dallas gave the term-limited leader a platform to make the case for his party ahead of the November elections, a pitch that included a controversial promise of $5,000 payments to all adult U.S. citizens if Republicans retain control of Congress, two primetime speeches, and a call for Republicans to pledge allegiance to him.
During informal discussions about a midterm convention in 2025,
Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin said the feedback he received from party members was that their efforts in the final months before the election would be better spent reaching out to voters.
“I think we made the right decision to stay focused on what really matters, and that is building relationships with voters in this country around the issues that they care about,” Martin told USA TODAY. “They can put on their silly convention all they want. It's not moving the needle with anyone. It's been a colossal flop.”
Democrats spent this week criticizing the president’s record on affordability issues on social media, in a digital ad and in press conferences with Texas Democrats and U.S. House members. They also knocked the president’s claim that voters would receive $5,000 checks if his party holds its congressional majorities in November, an offer that even some loyal Trump supporters have denounced as a “bribe.”
Democrats' March announcement that they wouldn’t host a midterm convention came as the party’s financial struggles, and dissatisfaction about Martin’s leadership, drew increased scrutiny. The Republican National Committee ended July with $130 million in cash, while Democrats ended the month with a nearly $2 million deficit, due in part to increased funding for state parties and a $15 million loan in 2025 to help boost candidates in New Jersey and Virginia.
“The Democrats are too broke to rent out a motel conference room, let alone host an action-packed two-day event with thousands of patriotic supporters,” Natalie Baldassarre, a Republican National Committee spokesperson, said in a statement.
A history of midterm conventions
National conventions are typically held the summer before presidential elections, where parties formally select their nominees and complete official party business such as approving their party platform. The events typically offer a polling boost to the presidential candidates who are the focal point of the multi-night events.
The goal, and timing, of midterm conventions has varied over the years.
Trump, who is seeking to stave off the midterm congressional election losses usually suffered by the party in the White House, announced in September 2025 that Republicans would host a 2026 midterm convention to "show the great things we have done since the Presidential Election of 2024." Convention speakers, including a small handful of Republicans in competitive races, used their time to warn against democratic socialism and attempt to paint their opponents as extremists. The president urged his supporters to "pretend I'm on the ballot," alluding to some voters' tendency to skip the polls when Trump isn't running.
Democrats held such gatherings throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, but even then it wasn’t always clear they were worth the investment.
While Democratic President Jimmy Carter was in office, the committee struggled to get high-profile party members to attend a December 1978 convention held after the midterms to debate the administration's policies. Elaine Kamarck, a then-Democratic National Committee staffer, said at the time that the convention’s list of declined invites for panels “reads like a Who's Who of American politics."
Others complained about the cost. “It seems strange that the party leaders should be putting so much money into a rally when they couldn’t help us during the campaign,” a Colorado party chair told Time magazine.
Ahead of the 1986 midterms, the DNC voted to scrap their upcoming convention, arguing that it would cost too much, distract from efforts to win congressional races and accelerate the start of the presidential campaign.
Forty years later, Democrats shared a similar sentiment. Asked whether not hosting a convention was the right call, Democratic strategist and DNC member Maria Cardona said “a thousand times yes.”
“Democrats feel very good about the fact that they can focus on their own races,” she said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No convention, no problem: Democrats say they made the right decision
