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Republican convention volunteer Nancy Anderton in front of her home in Dallas.<\/p>\n
Anja Schlein\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Nancy Anderton is a native New Yorker who welcomes visitors into her Dallas home with unmistakable Southern charm.<\/p>\n
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On a recent August evening, neighbors filed into her redbrick ranch-style home to shake hands with Republican candidates. Clad in a white shirt with a bedazzled Statue of Liberty, Anderton directed guests to the ice cream truck in her driveway before ushering them inside.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In less than two weeks, Anderton will put that hospitality to work as one of the North Texas volunteers helping with President Donald Trump\u2019s Republican convention<\/a> in Dallas.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Related: Dallas GOP convention will mix policy, pageantry and political firepower<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just one of those people that you know pitches in when they send out an email and say, \u2018hey, we need help for this,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m really excited.\u201d<\/p>\n Anderton is one of four volunteers from across North Texas who told The Dallas Morning News they are eager to pitch in, even as they await details about their convention assignments. Organizers are trying to line up more than 750 volunteers per day for the Sept. 9-10 event.<\/p>\n Anderton, active in the Dallas County Republican Party, said \u201cphones were ringing off the wall\u201d when Trump picked Dallas to host the GOP\u2019s first midterm convention.<\/p>\n Everyone wanted to attend at the American Airlines Center, she said, but few knew how to get inside.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cAfter all the hoopla and everything, then we finally got a website they can go to if they want to volunteer,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anderton, 71, signed up as soon as the Republican National Committee posted its request for volunteers and shared the form widely.\u00a0<\/p>\n Related: Trump\u2019s Dallas GOP convention puts out a help-wanted sign for volunteers<\/a><\/p>\n She first got involved with the party in 2020, when she and her husband volunteered as election judges in the presidential election. They made it a family affair, recruiting her daughter and nephew as student clerks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anderton still serves as an election judge and spends her free time helping local Republican candidates connect with voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n That was her mission on the warm August night when she brought kitchen chairs into her living room and made space for guests to hear from candidates for Congress, Dallas County treasurer and other offices.<\/p>\n \u201cRepublicans have to start promoting the candidates we have \u2014 whether they\u2019re local candidates, state candidates or national candidates,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Barrows: \u201cUnity of the party\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n Some Republican candidates also have signed up to volunteer.<\/p>\n Leslie Barrows, a Southlake attorney running for state district judge, sees the convention as a way to energize voters for the November election.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just not the convention,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s also spreading the word and getting the word out about voting.\u201d<\/p>\n Born and raised in Dallas, Barrows, 53, decided to volunteer after attending the Texas Republican Party convention in Houston. She wants to get a peek into the national engine that powers her party.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere was just so much energy,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was about the unity of the party.\u201d<\/p>\n Pitching in gives Barrows an opportunity to gain visibility for her campaign in Tarrant County. She said it also allows her to set an example of civic engagement for her three teenage sons.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t know if we\u2019ll get them going to the convention,\u201d she said, \u201cbut maybe one day when they’re older, they’ll think it would be a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Gardner: \u201cHuge opportunity\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Sarah Gardner, a Dallas small-business owner, said she jumped at the opening to volunteer.<\/p>\n Originally from Austin, Gardner, 31, moved to Dallas after graduating from Baylor University to find a stronger community of young Republicans like herself. Now, the founder of the college apparel brand Established & Co. is eager to see how her new city handles the national political spotlight.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, it\u2019s a very exciting event for anybody involved in Republican politics,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not every day that a big thing like this comes to Dallas.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n It will not be Gardner\u2019s first national Republican gathering. She attended the party\u2019s 2024 convention in Milwaukee that nominated Trump, calling it \u201cone of the coolest events I\u2019ve ever been to.\u201d<\/p>\n The Dallas event will have no nominations or other official party business and was assembled on a far tighter timeline. \u201cHopefully they can pull something like that off last-minute,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Gardner said she decided to volunteer after struggling to secure a ticket. Some access packages offered through the Texas Republican Party had been priced from $5,000 to $10,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n What mattered to her, she said, was finding a way inside American Airlines Center to take part in what she called a \u201chistoric\u201d event.<\/p>\n She said the chance to help Trump or support the national party was a \u201chuge opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n Neale: \u201cCenter of the universe\u201d<\/p>\n For Jim Neale, volunteering will bring him back to where his political involvement began: the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas.<\/p>\nTHADDEUS HARDEN\/Courtesy of Leslie Barrows<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Sarah Gardner<\/p>\n