Trump announces first-ever Republican national convention in Dallas before midterms

Republicans will hold their first-ever national convention before a midterm election in Dallas on Sept. 9 and 10, a move Donald Trump said is meant to energize voters and strengthen the party’s bid to keep control of Congress. Trump announced the gathering on Truth Social and cast it as a break with party precedent, writing, “It has never been done before, and will be a truly Historic Event.”

The decision turns a normally presidential-year ritual into a midterm campaign tool. National conventions are usually reserved for years when both parties choose nominees for president, but Republicans are now using one to project Trump’s message across House and Senate races as the 2026 map takes shape. NBC News reported that Democrats are not planning a similar event.

Dallas emerged as the likely host city well before the announcement. In March, reporting said Trump and the Republican National Committee were leaning toward Dallas, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton later said in a tele-town hall that the GOP would hold a pre-midterm convention there this September. The Republican National Committee had not publicly confirmed the event or its location early in the process, even as it moved to make the gathering possible.

The committee amended its bylaws in January 2026 to allow a midterm convention, a procedural step that underscored how unusual the plan was inside party ranks. Republican National Committee representatives also toured the American Airlines Center in Dallas as they looked at possible venues for the event.

Trump’s announcement places the midterms inside a more centralized, presidential-style political operation, with Dallas set to serve as the stage for a national Republican message rather than a collection of state-by-state campaigns. The convention is aimed at rallying the party’s voters and bolstering Republicans’ chances of holding Congress, making it one of the clearest signals yet that Trump wants the midterms fought as a nationalized contest.