Competing Messages Around A Midterm Convention

For the past few days, the Republican Party convened in Dallas at the American Airlines Center for a midterm convention. It’s the first time a party has held such a robust event in a non-presidential year.

The midterm convention, which earned the nickname “Trumpapalooza” by RNC Chair Joe Gruters, was a showcase for a president who is technically not on the ballot. Donald Trump spoke on both nights. On Wednesday he closed out the convention and greeted a crowd chanting “U-S-A” and said the last two years had been the most “successful” of any presidency. He also said that if Republicans remained in control after the midterm election, Americans could expect $5,000.

The convention also featured several Texas candidates, though most were relegated to non-primetime hours. Ken Paxton, running for the Texas Senate, spoke early on Wednesday evening for just over six minutes. Paxton praised Trump, while also disparaging his opponent James Talarico by saying he believes in “six genders” and is “obsessed with transition.”

Like many other Texas Democratic candidates, Talarico was in Dallas for events to counter the RNC midterm convention. On Wednesday his campaign announced that a “Love Thy Neighbor” grocery drive they were holding in North Texas collected over 20,000 pounds of groceries across 26 counties.

Democrats from outside Texas were also on hand, including Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. The Midwest governor joined Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder for a press conference Wednesday morning. Pritzker noted that he had met candidates like Talarico and Gina Hinojosa when they left Texas to break quorum for the redistricting bill last year.

When Pritzker was asked if he was in Dallas to raise his national profile, he noted that he was running for re-election in Illinois and simply wanted to lend a hand to fellow Democratic candidates. He also offered harsh rebukes of the current president, citing his “failed” war in Iran for driving up prices on goods and gas.

That theme of unaffordability was echoed by several Texas House Democrats as they held a people’s hearing a few miles away from the American Airlines Center on Thursday morning. Dallas restaurant owner Mark Wootton spoke to the representatives about the challenges of maintaining business amidst rising prices. He noted that the high price of diesel was even having an impact on delivery surcharges.

There were several other demonstrations and events on Thursday, culminating in a “We the People” rally held at Dallas City Hall with a coalition of groups including LULAC (the League of United Latin American Citizens), The Victory Fund, and the Human Rights Campaign.