The Republican midterm convention is headed to Dallas Sept. 9-10 for what some GOP leaders are calling a “Trumpapalooza” and “truly historic.”
September’s convention will be the first time in more than 40 years to be hosted in Dallas, now a Democratic-majority city, as opposed to its neighboring city Fort Worth. Dallas was considered a strong Republican city the last time a convention was hosted in 1984.
Fort Worth has historically been a GOP-friendly city in a county governed by a conservative majority.
It raises the question: Why bring the convention to Dallas rather than Fort Worth?
One reason could be because of Dallas’ large media market, said Brian Mayes, a Dallas political consultant.
“It has everything to do with just access to media and trying to get as much media coverage as possible,” Mayes told KERA News. “They're looking for eyes on TV, not necessarily bodies in the area.”
Dallas-Fort Worth was ranked fourth biggest media market last year, with majority outlets based in Dallas.
Tarrant County Republican Party Chairman Tim Davis previously told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram he received several phone calls about the convention once it was announced it was headed to North Texas.
“I’ve gotten phone calls from every person on our ballot, it feels like every member of our executive committee asking ‘How do I get in? Well, how do I participate in that convention?’” Davis told the Star-Telegram. “There’s a lot of excitement for that convention.”
Along with this being the first time the Republican National Committee hosts a convention during a midterm election year, Republicans could be trying to encourage voter turnout this year with close races like the one between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and state Rep. James Talarico for the U.S Senate, according to Mayes.
Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat to a statewide position in more than three decades – but early numbers show that could change this November as some express concerns over “extremist views” within the GOP party, Mayes said.
“The polls are showing that every Republican at the top of the ticket is in a dog fight to win,” Mayes said about the state races. “And normally that's not the case in the state of Texas.”
The convention, usually occurring every four years, will be hosted during a midterm election year in a time where President Donald Trump’s popularity sits lower than his first presidential term.
But in counties across Texas, including Tarrant County, there’s been occasional signs of trending purple as voters in recent elections have narrowly supported Democratic candidates in other races, including Democratic Sen. Taylor Rehmet’s landslide victory in the northern half of Tarrant County for the Texas Senate District 9 seat in January.
That could be due to the shift in what GOP leadership prioritizes, said Cal Jillson, political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
In recent years, social conservatism has been at the forefront, and economic issues are secondary from Republican leaders, leaving some voters questioning whether these leaders still align with their own values, Jillson said.
“You've got an electorate that is looking at the Republican Party with Paxton as its face and saying, ‘am I still on board with this? Or am I increasingly nervous, and might I look for an alternative?’” Jillson said. “And a lot of people, I think, are undecided at this point.”
Dallas has also been a core fundraising site for the GOP Party, Jillson said.
The Dallas Host Committee, a private nonprofit group created to support the convention’s event previously said it raised $45 million in private donations in less than a month, with donors from across the state and nationwide.
The convention will be held at the American Airlines Center, which can hold roughly 20,000 people. Dickies Arena, Fort Worth’s largest arena, can hold up to 14,000.
The convention is expected to bring in 20,000 attendees, according to organizers.
Among those expected to attend are Trump, Vice President JD Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and other GOP leaders.
“Dallas is the city that has an iconic place in the American public mind, not just because of the Dallas TV series or Land Man,” Jillson said. “But if you travel globally and you tell people you're from Dallas, they have a sense of what that means. And while Fort Worth is a great city in its own right, it doesn't bulk quite that large in the national, let alone the international mind.”
Penelope Rivera is KERA's Tarrant County Accountability Reporter. Email Penelope at privera@kera.org.
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