At the unconventional midterm convention kicking off in Dallas Wednesday, President Trump will be the star of the show, serving as headliner both nights of the two-night event. It is being billed as a "Trumpapalooza," a term Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters has been wearing out from overuse.
Political parties typically hold big, televised presidential nominating conventions every four years, but this isn't a presidential election year. And midterm conventions just aren't a thing (at least not since Democrats scrapped them after a short run in 1982).
It would be reasonable to ask why Republicans, trying to hang onto their narrow majorities in the House and the Senate, would want to train so much attention on a president whose approval rating is underwater.
At a recent campaign rally, Trump laid out the theory of the case.
"The problem that we have is they say that Trump does great when he's on the ballot," said Trump, speaking in the third person. "But when he's not on the ballot, his people don't come and they don't vote.
"So, what I really want you to do is pretend please, that I am on the ballot," Trump said at the rally for South Carolina Republican Sen. Darline Graham. "Just come and vote. It's so important."
But this isn't just a plea for Republican primary voters in a runoff election in a deep red state. In swing states and toss up districts, Trump and his advisors are trying to rebuild the coalition of voters who propelled him back into office in 2024, voters who don't always show up if there isn't a presidential race at the top of the ticket.
This is a different approach than that taken by most presidents whose parties are facing political headwinds in a midterm year. At one of the few rallies then-President Biden attended in 2022, he even joked about how best to support a Democratic senator.
"I've told him, I'll come campaign for him or against him, whichever will help the most," Biden quipped, a joke he had used many times over the years.
Polls show Democratic voters are far more energized about these midterms than Republicans.
But President Trump has never been one to go along with the normal rules of politics. Last week, a Trump aligned political dark money group, Securing American Greatness, started airing two midterm campaign ads. Neither ad mentioned Republicans running in House and Senate races. Both had a lot of slow motion footage of the president.
Convention organizers say the gathering in Dallas will focus on the issues shaping the midterms, including lowering the cost of living and raising incomes, securing the border and protecting American values.
In addition to Trump and Vice President Vance, featured speakers include Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who Trump endorsed for a Senate seat over the incumbent Republican and now faces a campaign cash deficit, and other Republican leaders.
Based on an NPR analysis, using race ratings from the Cook Political Report, fewer than half of the Republican candidates in competitive House and Senate races are listed as convention speakers.
"We're going to be back in our district, working hard," said Republican Rep. Zach Nunn of Iowa, when quizzed on his convention plans by reporters on Capitol Hill.
He's in a toss-up race for reelection.
But if the White House is concerned about attendance, Vance isn't letting on.
"The president and I can go and make [the] argument on national TV," Vance said at a White House press briefing last week. "We don't need a congressman in a tight race to be there in all cases."
There's also a question of who will be watching. The convention is up against the NFL season opener on Wednesday night, a rematch of this year's Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. There's a primetime football game on Thursday night as well.
Democrats aren't planning their own convention and the counterprogramming will be fairly limited.
"Most elected officials don't even want to go to [presidential nominating conventions]," said John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster and consultant. "I mean, the expiration date on conventions has passed a long, long time ago."
And, he argues, the war in Iran, unpopular tariffs, high gas prices and broader affordability concerns, mean the political environment "is disastrous for Republicans running for office and this Republican convention is not going to change that narrative one iota for the midterm elections."
Ohio Republican Party chairman Alex Triantafilou said he had no trouble finding people interested in attending. But the state party was also allotted far fewer tickets than it would get for a traditional presidential convention.
"From the very beginning we were told that we could use this as an opportunity to rally the troops and to raise some money for the party and those two things have certainly happened," said Triantafilou.
He said the state party is using the convention to excite grassroots Republicans and he hopes the president will visit Ohio again sometime before the November election.
"He is very popular here," said Triantafilou. "We do talk a lot about low propensity voters and turning them out. Nobody turns out low propensity voters in Ohio like the president. So, we welcome this."
Whether this novel midterms approach will pay off is yet to be seen, but some Republicans say it may be the best shot the party has to limit its losses in what is widely expected to be a tough year for Republicans.
"Running to President Trump and defending his record, I think, is an interesting strategy and I think it is so interesting that it might just work," said Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, a Republican group. "We've tried running away from the president in previous midterms and we almost always lose."
Schilling will be at the convention and says he expects many of his friends involved in Republican politics to be there as well. He hopes they emerge energized and ready to drive a focused message heading into the midterms.
NPR's Eric McDaniel contributed reporting for this story.
Copyright 2026 NPR
