President Donald Trump, boarding Air Force One in May, said Tuesday that Dallas will host the Republican Party’s first national midterm convention in September.
Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press
With just over two months until President Donald Trump and thousands of Republicans arrive in Dallas, planning has shifted from landing the party’s first national midterm convention to pulling it off.
Organizers are now searching for hotel rooms and event space while many details, including programming, speakers, costs and the convention’s economic impact, remain unsettled.
Trump announced Tuesday that Dallas will host what he called a “truly Historic Event,” the Republican Party’s first national midterm convention. Democrats have already dismissed it as a “circus.”
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The city’s selection came after secretive, last-minute talks, local officials said this week.
Republican National Committee representatives visited Dallas earlier this year and met with Visit Dallas CEO Craig Davis and Rosa Fleming, the director of Dallas’ Convention and Event Services.
Fleming described the meeting as brief and vague.
“It was one of those meetings where they called us at 11 to show up at noon-ish,” she said Wednesday. “There wasn’t really much time to prepare and we weren’t completely clear on what they wanted to talk about.”
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At the time, GOP representatives said Dallas was one of several cities being considered for a large event in July, August or September, but didn’t provide details.
Fleming said the meeting, which she and Davis separately said also included representatives from the Dallas Police Department, lasted about 20 minutes. Fleming said it was her only involvement and that she never heard from RNC officials again about Dallas being selected.
Davis, who found out the convention was officially coming to the city Tuesday, said he believes Dallas won because of logistics and availability.
“This is very attractive for us because they don’t need a convention center, they need an arena,” Davis said, referring to the ongoing redevelopment work at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
Now that the event has been publicly announced, the RNC is asking Visit Dallas for help finding hotel rooms and is looking for other sites around the event that could host networking events and other gatherings, he said.
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Davis said Wednesday he doesn’t yet know how many hotel rooms the RNC will need or what the convention’s overall economic impact will be.
GOP donor Ray Washburne said he is co-chairing the event with his wife. He told The Dallas Morning News that organizers expect about 20,000 people each night at the AAC but didn’t respond to follow-up questions Wednesday.
The event could be an economic boost for downtown and Victory Park, with high-profile attendees likely to spend at restaurants and local attractions.
It remains unclear whether the RNC will receive economic incentives from the state or city. But, Davis said, incentives are standard for large groups considering out-of-state options.
Energizing the base
Republicans say the convention is designed to harness Trump’s popularity and energize the party’s base ahead of the November midterm elections.
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U.S. House candidate Colin Allred, a Democrat, mocked the announcement Wednesday on social media.
“Sounds like Republicans looked at their agenda and said, ‘Maybe confetti will help.’
Texas candidates, including Senate nominee Ken Paxton, may use the national platform to boost their campaigns. The event’s timing also aligns with Paxton’s race against Democrat James Talarico, giving Texas Republicans a national stage.