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EXCLUSIVE – Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters predicted Wednesday that Republicans will “knock it out of the park” at the party’s first-ever midterm convention, casting the Dallas gathering as a “Trumpapalooza” aimed at firing up GOP voters in a difficult midterm climate.
Gruters spoke exclusively with Fox News Digital a day after President Donald Trump announced the Sept. 9-10 convention in Dallas, an unusual effort to put Trump and the GOP’s 2026 message center stage before voters decide control of Congress.
“It gives us a chance to highlight all the wonderful things this president has done in our effort on this great American comeback to highlight the ideas, policies and people that’s making it happen,” Gruters said.
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President Donald Trump applauds on Day 4 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 18, 2024. (REUTERS/Jeenah Moon)
National political conventions, where party delegates from around the country formally nominate their party’s presidential candidates, normally take place during presidential election years.
But with Republicans facing a rough political climate as they aim to protect their narrow control of the Senate and their razor-thin House majority in this year’s elections, they see the midterm convention as an effective vehicle to get their message out.
“We can win. It’s going to start here at the convention. I’m super excited about it,” Gruters emphasized.
And pointing to primary victories in recent weeks by far-left and socialist candidates over the Democratic Party establishment, Gruters said “we’re going to be able to highlight and contrast where the Republican Party is versus what the left is, and the fact that they’re getting pushed and now controlled and being run by these radical leftists that want to fundamentally change our country.”
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Congressional candidate Claire Valdez, Congressional candidate Brad Lander, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier raise their hands during a Get Out the Vote (GOTV) rally at King’s Theater on June 18, 2026, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Party leaders are also hoping the convention will help to energize MAGA voters who don’t always vote when Trump isn’t on the ballot.
Gruters called Trump the “best showman that’s ever existed in politics, bar none… He knows how to deliver these low-propensity voters. He knows how to get people up, motivated, excited about the midterms, and that’s what we’re going to need.”
Currently, the president’s approval ratings remain well underwater, with many Americans rating him poorly on his handling of the economy and on the issue of affordability.
Democratic National Committee (DNC) Director of Rapid Response Kendall Witmer told Fox News Digital on Tuesday evening, “The American people can’t afford their bills or to fill up at the pump because of Donald Trump, and Republicans’ response is to throw a multi-million dollar televised celebration for Trump that will only remind Americans of his failed promise to them and tie already flailing Republican swing-seat candidates to a historically unpopular president.”
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Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin addresses party members at the DNC’s summer meeting, on Aug. 25, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)
The DNC, which significantly trails the RNC in fundraising, considered holding a midterm convention but decided earlier this year not to move forward with the costly event.
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Witmer emphasized that “Democrats are already hitting the trail and speaking directly with American voters about our plans to cut costs and make health care affordable.
