A Trump-led Republican midterm convention is coming to Dallas this September, and the irony isn’t lost on Kardal Coleman, chair of the Dallas Democratic Party.
“I still remember how March 3 ended, and I know that it was oppressive on purpose,” Coleman told Courier Texas. “I know that Ken Paxton called into the Supreme Court and stopped our people from voting here, and so this is our opportunity to meet them face to face.”
The March 3 primary election in Dallas County was marred with chaos, confusion, and thousands of voters being turned away after the Dallas County GOP required voters to cast ballots at specifically-assigned neighborhood polling locations instead of at ones that can accommodate anyone from anywhere in the county.
Under state law, both parties must run their primaries the same, meaning since Republicans didn’t agree to offer countrywide voting, Democrats couldn’t either.
“ We’re not surprised that they chose Texas, but the fact that they chose Dallas—we’re battle tested following what happened here on March 3,” Coleman added.
He said the GOP party wants to use Texas, and specifically Dallas County, as an incubator and testing ground for their ideas.
“But we’re ready, we are on our toes, and we’re ready to fight. We know what we have to do to protect our voters in Dallas County,” he said.
The event isn’t being described as a typical convention, but instead as a ticketed fundraiser and rally aiming to “celebrate the America-First movement and raise resources to support Republican candidates” ahead of the November 2026 midterms.
Texas’ US Senate race, which became the most expensive US primary race in history, has made national headlines, with state Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin) facing Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in November.
President Donald Trump was slow to endorse in the Republican primary between Paxton—whose home turf is just miles north of Dallas in Collin County—and incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. He eventually threw his support behind Paxton, who defeated Cornyn in a May 26 runoff election with a crushing 63% of the vote.
Now, recent polling in the race shows Talarico and Paxton running neck and neck.
“They must be real scared,” Kendall Scudder, the Texas Democratic Party Chairman, told CBS News in response to the announcement. “They could have gone anywhere in this country. There’s all kinds of really raucous races. Iowa, Maine. Alaska. We see fights that are happening right now in Georgia. But they chose Texas. I think that should tell you something about their internal polling.”
Dallas County was also directly impacted by Trump’s mid-decade redistricting plan last year that aimed to flip five US House seats held by Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterm.
The new maps, which were approved by the US Supreme Court, targeted Democratic US Reps. Julie Johnson, Marc Veasey, and Jasmine Crockett in Dallas County. The changes also disenfranchised thousands of Black, Brown, and Hispanic voters.
Johnson, who was forced to run in an entirely new district after her once Democratic stronghold was redrawn into several rural areas, lost in the March 3 primary. Both Crockett and Veasey’s homes were drawn out of their districts, sparking Crockett to run for US Senate instead, while Veasey did not seek reelection.
“Last summer, we were here fighting mid-decade redistricting that came from Trump,” Coleman said. “You don’t get to oppress us and then walk back in here into our state, into our county, and think of a new scheme. I think Texans are ready to really resist that, and stand up and fight back.”
The convention, which won’t have party business or delegate elections, will take place on Sept. 9 and 10 at the American Airlines Center. It will be the first time Republicans have held a national convention in Dallas since 1984, and the first-ever midterm year convention.
Trump himself is expected to speak, and three ticket tiers are available: Honorary Delegate for $20,000, Honorary Alternate Delegate for $15,000, and Honorary Guest for $5,000.
