national midterm convention<\/a> is scheduled for Sept. 9-10 at the arena. Trump has promised \u201ca RALLY like none other,\u201d with top elected officials, donors, activists and thousands of supporters.<\/p>\nArticle continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Unlike a traditional national convention, the two-day gathering will not nominate a presidential candidate. Party officials have describe it as combination fundraiser and political showcase for the GOP ahead of the November elections.<\/p>\n
Filling the gap<\/p>\n
City boosters say the payoff is the business the event will bring.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are ready for this convention,\u201d said Craig Davis, CEO of Visit Dallas, the city\u2019s tourism bureau.<\/p>\n
Davis saluted the convention, saying that \u201cwe really need it in Dallas.\u201d The city recently closed swaths of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, which is being demolished as part of an expansion project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Officials are still hosting smaller events before construction begins, but the lack of large conventions is a concern for now, Davis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn these doldrums,\u201d he said, \u201cwe seriously need the business.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
And the GOP gathering will deliver more than national exposure, Davis said, bringing business to local hotels, restaurants and other venues while supporting jobs for hospitality workers.<\/p>\n
At Tuesday\u2019s kickoff event, attendees and Republican officials mingled over quesadillas, margaritas and ceviche. Outside, mariachis played as guests arrived.<\/p>\n
Some donned cowboy hats handed out as part of a Texas-inspired welcome.<\/p>\n
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Leaders of the Dallas Host Committee, including Washburne and his wife, Republican fundraiser Heather Washburne, and philanthropist Lisa Troutt, joined John Hiller, a Trump aide who is overseeing convention operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Organizers expect 20,000 people to attend the convention, although its two-day schedule has not been released. Johnson, who founded the Republican Mayors Association in 2023, declined to say whether he is seeking a speaking role.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hiller praised the city partnership and said the president has been focused on the convention, regularly peppering him with questions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants to know what the stage is going to look like, what the music is going to be, so the president’s excited,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Eric Johnson speaks Tuesday during a reception for reporters preparing for President Donald Trump\u2019s Republican midterm convention…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-398051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}