Live updates: Republicans gear up for Day 2 of first-ever GOP midterm convention in Dallas

DALLAS — Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) defended speaking at the Republican midterm convention, despite being in a competitive race amid President Donald Trump’s low approval ratings.

“He’s president of the United States, and whether people want to say yay or nay, the fact is he’s the president,” Lawler told the Washington Examiner. “This is an opportunity to talk about what we’ve actually done, and my speech is going to focus on what I’ve delivered for my district, and in fact, standing up to the president to do it.”

Lawler previewed that he would be accompanied by Sheridan Gorman’s family during his address on Thursday.

He said their “beautiful 18-year-old daughter Sheridan was brutally murdered by a criminal, illegal alien who was allowed into this country under the Biden administration, released back out onto the streets after being arrested for shoplifting under Chicago’s disastrous criminal pro-criminal policies, including cash as bail and their sanctuary jurisdiction.”

“So, being able to have my constituents share their story about their daughter was important to me, and so I’m proud to stand with them as they share that story with the nation,” he added.

Lawler amplified the importance of bipartisanship as he downplayed the direness of his election, contending he has “always been in a tight race.”

“I represent a district that has 80,000 more Democrats than Republicans,” he continued. “I beat the chair of the DCCC, all right, in 2022. I won a district that Kamala Harris won by 6.5 points because my district and my constituents know who I am.”

Live coverage will resume tomorrow.

Click here to follow the Washington Examiner’s latest coverage of the 2026 midterm elections.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said the energy at the midterm convention was “contagious” after Trump stepped off stage and emphasized the need for Republicans to show up at the polls.

“This election is about turnout, turnout, turnout. Here in Dallas, Texas, the energy is contagious,” Cruz said. “If you don’t want to hand the country over to the crazies, you’ve got to come out and vote in November, because every one of the Marxists and Islamists who have taken over the Democrat Party, they’re all showing up to vote.”

Cruz had floated the idea of making a presidential bid in 2028 in recent weeks, but said his attention is focused on Republicans winning this November.

DALLAS — President Donald Trump spent nearly two hours Wednesday night varnishing his own legacy and setting the stakes for Republicans in the 2026 elections.

Trump delivered the keynote address on the first night of the Republican midterm convention. He’d previously been expected to close out the convention’s second night but ended up swapping spots with Vice President JD Vance, the likely GOP nominee in the 2028 general election.

In spite of the scheduling change, or perhaps because of it, the most powerful man in the world leaned into his table-setting role, declaring that the results of Election Day on Nov. 3 “will decide whether our country stumbles at the starting gate of the next 250 years or surges forward and never ever looks back.”

Click here to read more from the Washington Examiner.

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) promised to begin working on a bill to approve Trump’s promised $5,000 dividend for adult citizens if Republicans win the midterm elections.

“I will get a bill ready so that we can get the Trump Dividend passed immediately after the Nov. 3 election … because Republicans (and America) will win!” Moreno said.

Trump unveiled his plan to give the bonus during his nearly two-hour speech at the midterm convention. Moreno was in attendance, but he is not up for election.

DALLAS – Donald Trump walked out to a standing ovation at the midterm convention in Dallas.

“You have to remember when we originally announced this eight weeks ago, they said, ‘Who’s going to go to a midterm convention?’” he said. “This place is packed. Packed.”

Party delegates and rally regulars rose to their feet in unison, roaring their approval and their devotion.

It is exactly what organizers wanted: a show of strength as the Republican Party approaches tricky midterm elections.

Yet the noise seemed far away in the upper reaches of the American Airlines Center, where thousands of seats sat empty. 

Click here to read more from the Washington Examiner.

President Donald Trump promised to deliver a “Trump dividend” of $5,000 to every American adult if Republicans can hold on to both chambers of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections.

The president’s vow came during his keynote address closing out the first night of the Republican midterm convention.

“If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our economic, tremendous economic success — in history we’ve never had anything like what’s happening — but because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000,” Trump declared.

Click here to read more from the Washington Examiner.

DALLAS – With President Donald Trump leaving stage right, the Republican midterm convention “after dark” now begins.

While some states co-hosted more formal receptions for their delegates, outside sponsors from the Daily Wire to TikTok have held or are holding first-day sideline events and afterparties.

Delegates attending the Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin delegation breakfast Thursday morning better behave, however, because Vice President JD Vance is expected to be in attendance.

At the quadrennial conventions, reporters are typically welcomed to look in on the breakfasts, but press access is limited at this midterm counterpart.

Trump ripped into Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico, claiming he is a secret vegan who wanted to “beat meat.”

“He was also somebody that hated eating meat, but he ran a campaign to beat meat,” Trump said. “He called it beat meat. I don’t know what the hell he meant by that.”

“But he was recently seen having a barbecue and eating a lot of meat,” he continued. “But that’s what happened. He ate it, and then he was seen running backstage to a room and throwing up all over the place. He doesn’t like meat.”

He also went after Talarico for his looks, comparing him to MAD mascot Alfred E. Newman and dubbed him “Talafreako.”

While discussing Democrats‘ top candidates in the midterm elections, Trump said many are communists and claimed they want to start a “communist caucus” in Congress.

“These are Democrat Party’s nominees to wield control over the United States Congress,” he said. “If they win, the greatest legislative body in history will, for the first time ever, be controlled by a communist caucus.”

He listed several candidates he likened to Karl Marx, including Florida Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon and Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul el Sayed.

“His mother worked for an organization that gave hundreds of 1,000s of dollars to people that follow Osama bin Laden, and he campaigns with a Marxist agitator, who says that America deserved 9/11,” Trump said of el Sayed. “Yet, the Democrats want to make this extremist a U.S. senator, and running against somebody really good.”

Trump promised to issue a dividend worth $5000 if Republicans maintain control of Congress in the midterm elections, comparing the act to a company awarding shareholders.

“If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate … because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000,” he said.

“The only caveat I have is that the dividend that we’re making must be spent in the United States of America,” he later added. “We don’t want you going to Canada to spend the money.”

He said the cash bonus will be called the “Trump Dividend.”

Iran would prefer to deal with “dumb, weak Democrats,” Trump said while discussing the conflict he claimed would be over after the midterm elections.

“The war will be over very shortly after the election,” he said. “They’re hanging out for dear life, hoping that we lose, so they can deal with dumb, weak Democrats, and they can have their nuclear bomb. But we’re not going to let that happen.”

Trump also ripped former President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, which he said would have led to submitting to Iran if he had not ended it and bombed the country.

“If I didn’t cancel the JCPOA, and if we didn’t hit them with our beautiful B-2 bombers, they would have a nuclear weapon right now, and I would be addressing them as supreme leader,” he said.

Trump celebrated a massive oil deal with Venezuela, saying the country’s massive supply was added to the U.S. stockpile, which he called the “biggest in the world.”

“Now we’re the biggest in the world, and that’s without Venezuela, which we’ve just added to our little stockpile,” he said. “It’s the biggest oil deal, and probably it’s the biggest deal in the history of our country. 65 billion barrels are ours.”

Click here to read more from the Washington Examiner.

When Trump attempted to praise Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), who was in attendance, he was met with boos from the crowd.

“No, no. John is working hard,” the president said, attempting to get the audience back on track.

“He’s got great opposition from the Democrat Schumer and these guys,” he added. “They’re terrible. Got great opposition. He’s working very hard. He’s going to have great success.”

Trump hinted he wasn’t done with changing names on the map, saying the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans could be next on the chopping block after Lake Ontario’s rebrand to “Lake America.”

“The other one we came up with today. Well, we could go into oceans like the Pacific Ocean or the Atlantic. We can’t have both. I don’t think you can do both,” he said.

He also touched on renaming New Mexico to “New America,” something he toyed with in recent days.