Dallas Rally Turnout Could Be Low Based
on RSVP's and Little Time for Candidates
Texas General Election Polls
General Election Rankings
Capitol Inside
September 3, 2026
The rally that the GOP is staging in Dallas as a tribute to President Donald Trump is showing signs of a disaster in the making with a majority of the elected officials and candidates who were invited to appear as no-shows and those who do plans to attend barely an afterthought based on a still-evolving program.
Conceived as an event to boost the GOP's odds of holding majorities in the U.S. House and Senate and governorships in swing states, the Great American Comeback Midterm Convention has evolved into a showcase for Trump first and foremost at time when he's historically unpopular and doing nothing to turn his approval rates around.
The Republican National Committee's schedule for the Dallas rally reserves less than two hours for the GOP nominees in the races for Congress and governor at the novel gathering that's set to take place over the course of two six-hour days. Republicans in House and Senate races have part of a 60-minute period that begins at 4 p.m. on Thursday allotted for them at the upcoming rally in the North Texas city.
But the schedule for the same time period on the event's second night includes presentations on "programming honors youth conservative organization legacy, middle-class housing initiatives, and healthcare price transparency through "TrumpRx"," according to the tentative itinerary. The program for opening night on Wednesday features an hour-long segment that ends at 5 p.m. that's described as a "candidate showcase (that) highlights GOP contenders in targeted congressional districts alongside discussions on "No Tax on Tips" policies, red-state governance, and national traditions."
The first day is devoted almost entirely to Trump administration policies and proposals on an array of issues including tax cuts, voter ID, school choice, gender ideology in youth sports and workforce success stories with a speech by Vice-President JD Vance as the opening night finale on the RNC rally gameplan initially. Trump relegated Vance to supporting player on Thursday with the announcement that the president will deliver the keynote address at the gathering both nights.
But the turnout in Dallas could be substantially lower than expected for an event that costs thousands of dollars to attend at a time when Trump's more unpopular than Joe Biden ever was in four years as the nation's chief executive. Republicans face the prospects of having seas of empty seats in the America Airlines Arena that's the home court for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. In a bid to prevent such an embarrassment, RNC officials have offered to give away 2,000 tickets to members of the public in a lottery on the Internet.
According to reports on Thursday, at least 45 of 70 Republicans who were invited to share the stage with Trump have declined with a range of excuses that run the gamut from scheduling conflicts to high school football games in which they have kids involved.
With the highly unconventional midterm convention set to take place from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Central time zone, the loyalists and others who attend the event would miss the National Football League's regular season opener on the first night of the event. The game features a rematch of the Super Bowl in February with the New England Patriots dueling the league champion Seattle Seahawks.
The Trump Dallas rally will be competing on the second night with the second NFL tilt this year with the San Francisco 49ers squaring off with the Los Angeles Rams in Australia. LA is the current betting favorite for a title at the end of the new season.
more to come ...
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