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DALLAS: President Donald Trump\u2019s Republican Party is increasingly viewing its first-of-a-kind midterm convention in Dallas next month as crucial to regaining momentum at a time when opinion polls show voter frustration over the economy and the Iran war, according to party officials, donors and \u200bconvention planners.<\/strong><\/p>\n When Republicans announced the convention earlier this year, some strategists dismissed it as a distraction as campaigns entered the final stretch. They questioned the need for a national gathering with no \u200cofficial party business.<\/p>\n Now, after months of negative headlines tied to the war and rising living costs, party officials see the September 9-10 gathering as their best opportunity to rally voters behind Trump\u2019s agenda as Democrats mount a serious challenge to Republican control of both houses of Congress in the November 3 election.<\/p>\n Some Republicans, however, remain skeptical it can meaningfully shift voter sentiment. Organizers plan to spotlight Americans they \u200bsay have benefited from those policies while portraying the Democratic Party as increasingly dominated by socialist ideas and activists, according to a source familiar with the planning.<\/p>\n The party plans to put Trump at the \u200bcenter of the convention, a tactic some strategists warn could backfire by drawing attention to a president with a low approval rating who has repeatedly urged Americans to \u2060endure the economic costs of the Iran war.<\/p>\n Republican National Committee spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre said the convention would rally voters behind Trump\u2019s agenda, including efforts to lower drug prices, cut taxes and secure the southern border with Mexico.<\/p>\n \u201cPresident \u200bTrump turns out voters like no other candidate, and this convention will provide the momentum needed to expand our majorities in November,\u201d Baldassarre said in a statement.<\/p>\n CANDIDATES FACE TRUMP CONVENTION DILEMMA<\/strong><\/p>\n It remains unclear which congressional candidates will speak \u200bduring the two-day event. Advisers to three campaigns in competitive districts told Reuters they had yet to be informed whether their candidates would be offered speaking slots.<\/p>\n Reuters contacted representatives for Republican candidates in 37 competitive U.S. House races and eight closely contested U.S. Senate races to ask whether they planned to attend the convention and deliver a speech.<\/p>\n Of the 45, only one campaign offered a substantive response: Republican Representative Tom Barrett, seeking reelection in a tight race in Michigan, who plans to skip the convention and remain on \u200bthe campaign trail.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s in a tough reelection campaign and his voters are in his district,\u201d said Jason Cabel Roe, a strategist working for the Barrett campaign.<\/p>\n Still, most of the dozen party insiders interviewed by Reuters, including convention \u200bplanners and Republican National Committee members, described the convention as the party\u2019s best chance to energize Republican voters, whose enthusiasm trails that of Democrats, according to polls.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no better salesman for the country than Donald Trump. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s \u200cgoing to \u2060hurt at all,\u201d said Rob Steele, a Republican National Committeeman from Michigan.<\/p>\n Ray Washburne, a Republican donor co-chairing the convention with his wife, told Reuters he expected about 30,000 attendees, a figure that would exceed the seating capacity of the American Airlines Center in Dallas by some 8,000 people. He said organizers raised $42 million and will fully fund the event.<\/p>\n The timing, just at the start of the school year, could pose challenges for some attendees. One state party chair told Reuters he had returned many of his delegation\u2019s allotted seats after members said they could not make the schedule work.<\/p>\n While declining to provide a complete speaker list, Washburne said most of Trump\u2019s cabinet secretaries would attend, \u200balong with \u201cpretty much everyone running in a hot race.\u201d \u200bVice President JD Vance will speak on September 9, \u2060followed by Trump on September 10.<\/p>\n Dave Wilson, a South Carolina-based Republican strategist, said he was skeptical a rally-style convention would move the needle unless it was used to unveil a major response to voters\u2019 top concern: the cost of living.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know that we\u2019re going to see a convention in Dallas change what happens in Cheyenne, \u200bWyoming, or Charleston, South Carolina,\u201d Wilson said, invoking places far from the convention to illustrate his point. \u201cI don\u2019t think the average Republican voter even knows there\u2019s a \u200bconvention going on.\u201d<\/p>\n CANDIDATES SEEK DONORS \u2060AND SPOTLIGHT<\/strong><\/p>\n Though it falls outside the traditional four-year presidential election cycle, the convention is expected to serve a familiar purpose as a fundraising and networking hub for candidates and donors.<\/p>\n The RNC has already launched a website selling official convention hats, T-shirts and mugs.<\/p>\n Washburne said the event would give candidates significant media exposure to promote their campaigns. U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton of Texas, whose campaign has been dogged by scandal, was someone who could benefit from the attention generated \u2060by a convention \u200bin his home state, Washburne added.<\/p>\n With Trump\u2019s approval rating at 33%, some Republicans questioned the wisdom of the event. One strategist working on \u200ba competitive race, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it made little sense to tie candidates more closely to Trump when many are trying to focus on local issues and win over independent voters.<\/p>\n Oscar Brock, an RNC member from Tennessee, said many candidates would feel obliged \u200bto attend the Dallas gathering to court donors and raise their profiles through media appearances, even as some remain wary of embracing Trump.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The party officials said the event offers a platform to refocus voters on Trump\u2019s tax cuts, immigration policies and other achievements.<\/p>\n