Republicans are gathering in Dallas on Wednesday for a highly unusual two-day midterm convention, a first for the party, that will put President Donald Trump at the center of this fall’s midterm elections.
Trump took the stage Wednesday to deliver a keynote address, and he plans to give closing remarks after Vice President JD Vance gives his own speech on Thursday. Members of Trump’s Cabinet will also address the convention. Democrats, meanwhile, are planning their own counterprogramming.
Republicans hope the event, which is part rally and part fundraiser, will help catapult their candidates into November, primarily by highlighting the first two years of Trump’s term. The president has insisted that running on his record will give the GOP their best shot at winning, even as his own poll numbers sag.
In an exchange with reporters before his flight to the convention, Trump said oil prices that have surged because of the Iran war likely won’t come down until after the midterm elections. An AP-NORC poll in July offered a stark repudiation of Trump’s handling of the conflict, as results showed about two-thirds of U.S. adults say the war with Iran has not been worthwhile.
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Trump gave a shoutout to the congressional leaders including House Speaker Mike Johnson, praising the Republican who wrangles a narrow majority as “the greatest speaker.”
But when Trump name-checked Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the convention crowd was not pleased. Boos filled the convention hall, even as Trump insisted that Thune, with his own slim majority, is working hard.
Thune had earlier posted a photo with fellow South Dakotans at the convention.
Trump drew cheers for his executive order renaming the U.S. portion of Lake Ontario to Lake America, a recent move to troll the Canadians. He previously renamed the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America.
He brought up an idea he first floated over the weekend to give the state of New Mexico a new name, New America.
“The people love the idea,” he said. He mused about renaming the Pacific or Atlantic ocean, but added, “I don’t think you can do both.”
And he set his sights farther afield, saying he should rename the Strait of Hormuz after himself.
“We’ll call it the Trump Strait, and I’m sure the Iranian leadership will be thrilled with that,” Trump said.
And he gave a nod to how much the strait has bedeviled his foreign policy.
“I should get something out of it,” Trump said, emphasizing the word “something.”
Trump said his administration is addressing affordability.
“Our predecessors killed and buried the American dream,” he said during the midterm Republican convention in Dallas. “We’re fixing it. We’re fixing it now.”
As of about 30 minutes into Trump’s remarks, only about 3,500 viewers were streaming the president’s speech live on the Republican National Committee’s YouTube page and about 2,600 on the midterm convention’s official channel. About 6,300 were watching on the Fox New YouTube channel.
All told, they are relatively modest figures for Trump, whose campaign rallies in 2024 would regularly attract tens of thousands of concurrent viewers on some streams.
Among the major news networks, only Fox News is carrying Trump’s speech to Republicans in its entirety. The broadcast networks are in regular programming, including NFL Football being carried on NBC.
CNN carried about 15 minutes of Trump’s remarks before cutting away to a panel, as reporters offered commentary on the speech in text annotations on screen.
Trump claimed that “the Democrats gave us the worst and most dangerous border in American history with 25 million illegal aliens pouring in,” an allegation he makes often in reference to the Biden administration.
But the figure is highly inflated. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports more than 10.8 million arrests for illegal crossings from Mexico from January 2021 through December 2024.
That’s arrests, not people. Under pandemic-era asylum restrictions, many people crossed more than once until they succeeded because there were no legal consequences for getting turned back to Mexico. So the number of people is lower than the number of arrests.
Trump claimed that more than $20 trillion has been invested in the U.S. and that the number could go up to $25 trillion. He has cited increasingly higher numbers throughout his second term.
But Trump has presented no evidence that he has secured this much domestic or foreign investment in the U.S. Based on statements from various companies, foreign countries and the White House’s own website, that figure appears to be exaggerated, highly speculative and far higher than the actual sum.
The White House website offers a far lower number, $11.2 trillion, and that figure appears to include some investment commitments made during the Biden administration.
He repeated a plan to visit as many top battlegrounds as possible before Election Day, which he outlined recently at the White House. Winning the Texas Senate race is crucial, he said.
“I’ll be coming back to Texas because we have to elect Ken Paxton,” Trump said. “If I have to, I’ll come back twice or three times.”
He joked that he’ll be in the state so much that Texans will get tired of seeing him.
He also jabbed at Paxton’s appearance, repeating jokes he’s made several times in recent weeks about the Texas attorney general.
“You may not like the way he looks,” Trump said, quickly adding that in Texas history, Paxton is “the single greatest attorney general.”
But Paxton’s attire when he spoke hours earlier got Trump’s nod of approval.
“Tonight he looked very spiffy in his blue suit,” Trump said.
Trump had a plea for Americans early in his speech: “I’m asking you to let us finish the job.”
If that sounded familiar, it might be because another president used the same line. President Joe Biden, made a similar plea in his 2023 State of the Union address.
“We’ve been sent here to finish the job!” Biden said three months after the 2022 midterm elections.
He noted that in past midterms, the president’s party has typically lost seats in Congress. That’s true of Trump’s first term, when Democrats flipped dozens of House seats to win control of the chamber.
“We’re going to change that,” he said.
Trump claimed that “we won the presidency three times,” referring to the 2016, 2020 and 2024 elections.
He did not win the presidency in 2020, despite his repeated claims otherwise. Democrat Joe Biden earned 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232.
“If we hand America’s future to the radical-left Democrats, our nation will spend the next decade just getting back on its feet. It’ll be a tragedy,” the president said.
“Vote Republican and we will leave the world in our dust for generations to come.”
The crowd erupted into cheers of “USA!” and loud applause as the president took the stage in Dallas. He was introduced by Lee Greenwood singing “God Bless the USA.”
And behind him, a curtain raised to reveal a packed section of supporters who mostly appeared to be women, holding American flag posters.
UFC had a moment in the spotlight at the the president’s midterm Republican convention.
Bo Nickal and Justin Gaethje, who competed at the event Trump held for his 80th birthday on the White House South Lawn, took the stage on Wednesday and praised the president.
“Nobody else would have held a UFC fight at the White House,” Gaethje said, adding that the event boosted the sport. “Thank you, President Trump, for doing that.”
Gaethje also made a political pitch, urging voters to support the GOP.
“This is about supporting President Trump and sending him Republican allies in Congress,” he said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took the stage at the Republican convention and lauded Trump while attacking Democrats.
Bessent cast the midterm election as a stark choice that could undo Trump’s agenda, saying the first thing Democrats would do would be to “dismantle the gains we’ve made under President Trump.”
In particular, he praised Trump Accounts, tax-advantaged accounts enacted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that can be opened for any child under 18. Babies born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, can get $1,000 in seed money from the U.S. Treasury.
Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers extremist group, was convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
He was later among those who benefited from Trump’s sweeping clemency action on his first day back in the White House after winning a second term.
Blanche said at the midterm convention that Trump turned “soft-on-crime” laws around.
“President Trump and the vice president said that they have always and they will always back the blue. They put American families first. They prove that that order and prosperity go hand in hand,” he said.
Blanche’s appearance at the convention has raised eyebrows because Justice Department leaders don’t typically speak at such events given the agency’s tradition of political independence.
The Justice Department has defended the move, saying in a social media post on Thursday that Blanche was appearing in his personal capacity and said it was “legal (and has been approved by ethics).”
The Republican midterm convention zeroed in on Trump’s handling of immigration, spotlighting the story of Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student who was killed while out for a run by a Venezuelan man.
GOP Rep. Mike Collins spoke after Riley’s family appeared in a video at the event. Collins is running against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia.
Collins sponsored legislation named after Riley that requires the detention of unauthorized immigrants accused of theft and violent crimes. It was the first bill of Trump’s second administration to be signed into law.
The mood on the floor at the American Airlines Center is much like a traditional presidential-year nominating convention, without the, well, nomination.
Speaker after speaker is praising Trump, the leader of the party, around whom the entire event has been built to gin up Republican enthusiasm ahead of the midterms.
The Rev. Lorenzo Sewell ended his rousing speech reprising the mantra from Trump’s 2024 campaign, “Fight, fight, fight.”
Like any convention, the Texas delegation — this time seated at the very front — is obvious in the sea of white cowboy hats.
And attendees are waving U.S. flags and signs that read “Republicans Are Fixing Democrats’ Mess.” Even the balloons — red, white, blue and gold — are held in nets above the floor waiting to drop when the convention concludes Thursday.
The first lady was not at the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Dallas, where her husband was speaking later Thursday.
She was at the White House addressing a private Rose Garden reception honoring the White House Historical Association’s Presidential Sites Summit. It’s a regular gathering of leaders from presidential sites across the country.
In remarks that were released by her office, the first lady described the White House as an “architectural autobiography of America” and said the nation’s “ideals and stories are woven directly into the fabric of the White House.”
She also discussed her design work at the mansion, including the design and construction of a tennis pavilion, the renovation of the Queens’ Bedroom and the Queens’ Bathroom, conserving historic wallpaper discovered in the President’s Dining Room and restoring and upgrading the Rose Garden.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is in a tightly contested fight to win the Senate seat in the Republican-heavy state, got a hero’s welcome from the audience in Dallas.
“The press, the courts and the establishment all tried to take President Trump down, but he’s won every single time,” Paxton said, drawing cheers. It wasn’t a broad leap to Paxton himself, who has beaten impeachment and state and federal charges, all while winning reelection.
Paxton ravaged his Democratic opponent, state Rep. James Talarico, describing him as worthy of representing Democratic-leaning California, and challenging his positions on transgender rights and his version of Christianity.
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman spoke to the GOP convention in Dallas, an extraordinary escalation in the worsening rupture between the Pennsylvanian and his party.
Fetter recorded a short video introducing Sen. Dave McCormick, a Pennsylvania Republican.
“I’m always going to stand with America,” Fetterman said. “I’m always going to reject the extremes and socialism and that anti-American way of life.”
Standing in front of a steel mill, Fetterman said he “will work with President Trump to fight and defend the steel way of life.”
He called McCormick “a great American.”
Fetterman has grown increasingly isolated from his party as he maintains staunch support of Israel’s war in Gaza and criticizes left-wing candidates who are members of the Democratic Socialists of America. He’s often gone his own way in the Senate, voting repeatedly with Republicans to end the government shutdown last year while supporting multiple Trump nominations and opposing efforts to end the war in Iran.
The American Airlines Center is filling up as the evening wears on.
While the stadium isn’t full, many of the sections that previously stood empty are now dotted with red “Make America Great Again” hats and cheering supporters.
Laura Loomer has a message for Republicans who skipped the president’s convention: Be more grateful.
The far-right provocateur and Trump ally, who has drawn attention with her often caustic online commentary, has harsh words for those who aren’t in Dallas.
“If you’re not going to show up to support the president so he can carry your sorry ass across the finish line due to a lack of enthusiasm, you better hope that the voters feel enthusiastic about showing up to vote for you,” she said.
She argued 2028 candidates need to be careful not to alienate the president’s base — and that midterm candidates should do the same.
“President Trump isn’t coming to this convention for himself. He’s already won his election. He can’t run for president again. He’s coming up to help the Republicans because history has shown,” she said, “that the GOP is incapable of dragging themselves across the finish line with success without Donald Trump at the top of the ticket. So they should be grateful and appreciative to President Donald J. Trump, the leader of our party.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is in a close race against Democrat James Talarico despite the state’s long history of electing Republicans.
“He is the most radical Democrat in Texas history, but he’s also the most well-funded,” Paxton said. “And that’s why today I need your prayers, your votes and your support.”
“If we lose Texas, we lose the common sense revolution,” he added.
Along with Cabinet members, lawmakers and office seekers, the run-up to the president’s keynote speech at the Republican midterm convention includes short video clips praising Trump.
One video featured swelling music with voiceovers praising aspects of the president’s signature legislation. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s temporary tax freeze on tips and overtime got a sustained spotlight.
“I think it’s going to help a lot of people in the server industry,” one speaker says in the video.
The clips also feature video of the president prominently. In one, he’s standing against a blue curtain, clapping as a voiceover says he’s delivering on his promises
It’s scorching outside the American Airlines Center in Dallas, but that hasn’t kept thousands of Trump devotees from pouring into the Dallas arena for this unusual midterm Republican convention.
It has the feel of a quadrennial national political convention, just smaller. In fact, it resembles more of a Trump election campaign rally — but with lots more speakers.
Outside the event center, there is tons of Trump swag, including signature “Make America Great Again” hats. The walls of the basketball arena, where the Dallas Mavericks play, are covered with photographs of Trump. There are Trump photographs in the elevators.
The ambience underscores the event’s real purpose of spurring Trump’s most devout supporters to lift Republicans in the midterms.
Speaker after speaker tout Trump’s record, at times prompting the audience to reprise the mantra from the 2024 campaign, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
Colorado Rep. Jason Crow is among the Democratic members of Congress who traveled to Dallas to offer a counter to Trump’s run of show inside American Airlines Center.
“Like most things, Donald Trump is not making it about Americans,” Crow told The Associated Press. “He’s not making it about Sept. 11. He’s not making it about the midterms. He is not making it about saving Republicans who are at risk. He’s making it about himself.”
Crow said Democrats will key on Trump’s failure to deliver on his economic promises while explaining how they would address rising costs and use their House majority to investigate Trump’s administration and his family’s financial dealings.
“Our job is to highlight the abuses, the failings,” he said, “and to try to make the case as to how we will fix this and retake our democracy.”
House GOP leaders Reps. Steve Scalise and Tom Emmer used stark language in their attacks on Democrats.
“These people are insane,” Scalise, the House majority leader, said of the opposition party. The Democratic Party has been “completely taken over by communists” in a “Bolshevik revolution,” he said.
If Republicans stay home in November, Democrats will win the House majority and will go on the attack, he warned.
“The first thing they’ll do is they’ll impeach President Trump and his Cabinet,” he said.
Emmer, the House majority whip, said Democrats “hate your country.”
“This is a country worth fighting for,” Emmer said. “We will not let the Marxists and communists and anarchists destroy it.”
Emmer called out three Democrats by name: Zohran Mamdani, Ilhan Omar and Abdul El-Sayed, three of the nation’s most prominent Muslim politicians.
Opponents of redistricting in Missouri have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court after an appeals court let stand a new map backed by Trump.
It’s is the latest turn in the legal battle over the 2025 redistricting. The changes are aimed at helping Republicans gain an extra seat in their effort to maintain control of the U.S. House.
More appeals are expected, however, with the midterm elections fast approaching.
It comes shortly before ballots begin going out in the pivotal midterm elections.
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