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Some Republicans are expressing concerns that the Trump-endorsed plan to hold a Republican mini-convention for this year’s midterms is going to do little to move the political needle — or, worse yet for them, hurt the party’s chances even more to retain control of Congress.
The unusually scheduled convention is set to commence on September 9-10 in Dallas, Texas. The event will feature dozens of speakers on both days, with Vice President J.D. Vance and President Donald Trump set to give keynote speeches.
The convention coincides with the start of the NFL season, and occurs on the weekend before the 25th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. But aside from those scheduling conflicts, there are other concerns — far from giving helpful attention to GOP candidates in the midterms, the event (once dubbed “Trumpalooza”) may instead feel like just another Trump campaign rally to many voters. Republican strategists speaking to CNN about the event have openly questioned what good such a convention will bring to the party.
“I’ve heard people say, why are we doing this? What’s going on? It was a good idea at the time, but as we’ve gotten closer to it, I’m not sure it’s going to serve much benefit,” Texas-based GOP consultant Reb Wayne said.
Indeed, Trump is more likely to be a drag on Republican candidates than a help to them. While aggregate polling data from Real Clear Polling demonstrates Republicans are down by around 6.4 points to Democrats in congressional matchups, Trump’s net approval rating is averaging -16.8 points, per the most recent numbers published on the site as of Friday morning.
Trump, however, doesn’t see things this way. In fact, he has demanded that his party faithful continue bringing his name up.
“The problem that we have is, they say that Trump does great when he’s on the ballot, but when he’s not on the ballot, his people don’t come, and they don’t vote for senators, congressmen and other Republicans,” Trump said at a rally in South Carolina earlier this month. “So what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot.”
The comments from Trump go against conventional wisdom — historically, the party of the president generally fares worse in midterm elections that follow their own electoral win two years prior. At the same time, Trump is overhyping his own electoral prowess: While he won in 2016, he did not obtain a popular vote victory, which is all that matters in midterm races, and his 2024 victory was one of the narrowest seen in modern presidential elections. His party’s performance in the 2018 midterms during his first term in office, too, was embarrassing, with Republicans losing 41 seats in the House, representing the third-worst loss for an incumbent president in that chamber since 1978.
There are already signs that Republican candidates may be privately wishing Trump would stay away from them. A House race in Kentucky, for example, made headlines this week when a Trump-endorsed Republican candidate, Ralph Alvarado, removed the president’s name from his website and other campaign materials.
Earlier this summer, Alvarado made several mentions of Trump backing him on his website. But those mentions were removed by late August, and while photos of Trump with Alvarado remain, they have been moved to other parts of the site rather than the landing page, where they were once featured prominently.
Texas congressional candidate Carlos De La Cruz has also removed Trump’s name from the headline of his website.
“AIR FORCE VETERAN. SMALL BUSINESSMAN. TRUMP CONSERVATIVE,” the candidate’s site once boasted at the top. But now, that headline excludes Trump’s name entirely, stating instead that De La Cruz is a “proven conservative” rather than a Trump one.
While Republicans are downplaying changes in their messaging, it’s evident that many likely see Trump as a hindrance to their chances in November, raising questions about whether the midterm convention they’re planning is really about helping their candidates, or simply giving the president another moment in the spotlight.
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