The Republican National Committee's first-ever midterm convention in Dallas was intended to energize GOP voters ahead of the November elections and showcase President Donald Trump's political agenda. But images and videos from inside the American Airlines Center showed empty seats before Trump's first speech at the two-day event. The convention comes as Trump's polling is low among Americans who are frustrated with the state of the economy, the war in Iran and even Trump's approach to immigration.
With the midterms a referendum on the current administration, Republicans worry about losing control of the House and the Senate, making the last two years of Trump's presidency likely ineffective. Photos and video clips from inside the arena showed large sections of the arena's upper deck sparsely populated at various points during the opening day of the convention. A photo Newsweek's Alex Rouhandeh took right after 8 p.m., about an hour before Trump was scheduled to speak, showed the first level of the arena packed with people but the upper and middle decks generally empty.
Rouhandeh noted that some of the middle tier was reserved for media. Dana Milbank, a writer for the Washington Sun, posted a video on X that showed similar rows of empty seats. The RNC said the convention center can hold 21,000 people and that 20,000 people would be in attendance, indicating that the arena should have been almost entirely full if everyone attended the first day.
Trump said ahead of the event that the convention was "sold out." "Everybody wants to come to the convention," Trump said. The Dallas convention features an extensive lineup of Republican officials, political allies and administration figures. Trump is the central attraction and was scheduled to headline the gathering as Republicans seek to frame the election as a referendum on his administration's policies.
Vice President JD Vance is also among the convention's featured speakers. Other speakers include: Note: All times are Eastern Daylight Time. Trump, 45th and 47th President of the United States Vice President JD Vance, 50th Vice President of the United States One of the most surprising moments of the convention came from an unexpected source, Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.
Fetterman appeared in a prerecorded video message that was shown to attendees before Republican Senator Dave McCormick took the stage. In the video, Fetterman described himself as a "common-sense Democrat" and praised McCormick's work on behalf of Pennsylvania. The appearance marked a rare instance of a Democratic senator participating in programming at a major Republican Party event.
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