Texas Republicans attending RNC midterm convention in Dallas believe it will energize their base
Right after Labor Day, the president will return to the Lone Star State.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) will hold its first ever midterm convention in Dallas at the American Airlines Center on Wednesday, Sept. 9 and Thursday, Sept. 10.
President Trump will attend both nights and deliver the keynote address on Thursday night, while Vice President JD Vance will give the keynote address on Wednesday night.
The RNC says with about 20,000 people attending, it will be their largest convention in ten years, when Mr. Trump was nominated the first time.
Three Republicans from North Texas who are going to the convention joined Eye on Politics reporter Jack Fink for a conversation ahead of the event.
"I think it's gonna be fabulous," said Jennifer Stoddard Hoydu, former chair of the Dallas County Republican Party. "I think it's going to really energize our base around the country, but especially here in Texas. So, if you take a look at the, rundown of what they're gonna do, it's gonna be every bit chock-full of policy and all kinds of speakers. It looks just like a regular convention to me, so I think it's gonna be fantastic."
"I think this will be an exciting opportunity to revitalize and reinvigorate the campaign, and really tell the American people, once again, before the midterm, all the accomplishments that have been made under this administration," said conservative activist Sanjay Narayan.
"I'm very excited to hear, kind of, not only some of the things that we know have already been accomplished, but kind of the future or the vision cast for the party going into the next couple of years," said Isaac Laster, the chairman of the Young Republicans of Texas.
There will be more than 100 other speakers during the convention, and the RNC says Republicans will be discussing election integrity and public safety, tax cuts for workers and families signed by the president, rooting out waste and fraud, and showing policy contrasts between their party and Democrats.
The group discussed how the midterm convention could help revitalize voters as a whole.
"I think there's a degree of complacency that can take place, especially when you are in a state like ours, which is historically, you know, at least for the last 20, 30 years, been run by Republicans at most of the statewide-level offices," said Narayan. "Typically midterms are bad generally for the party that's in power, and so this is an opportunity for us to put a stopgap, and so I'm glad that the administration is doing this, and I'm also glad that they're doing it here in Dallas. It's an opportunity for us to participate. This is an important part of the country, and it's great that we have an opportunity to participate in this."
"We have to act like Trump's on the ballot," said Stoddard Hoydu. "If we are complacent enough that we lose the Senate. Who knows where we are? I mean, I know we have to have 60 votes for a conviction, but hopefully we wouldn't get there, but we could be in that type of cycle. So we have to convince people that this is as important as a presidential election year, and I think that this is one of the reasons we're having this midterm convention, is to get people focused on what we've done, and that if we don't treat this. As a big turnout election, we could be losing all the momentum that we've gathered. You know, the accomplishments are only as good as long as we can keep them. If we lose the momentum, those accomplishments could go away. So we have to have turnout."
Laster discussed specifically what it would take to have more young voters turn out in November.
"If the messaging is about making housing, affordable in other ways, if the messaging is about protecting American jobs for American college graduates. Those are things that are going to actually motivate young people to get out there," he said. "So, if I were to give advice to the party, I would say, make sure your messaging is actually including young people and the things that they care about, if you want to motivate them and get them out there to vote."
Democrats say they have protests planned during the convention, telling the Dallas Morning News they will protest Mr. Trump's economic agenda and his executive order on elections.
