Republicans have opened their first-ever midterm nominating convention in Dallas, with President Donald Trump due to deliver Wednesday's keynote and return on Thursday to close proceedings at the American Airlines Center, following Vice President JD Vance's speech. Newly released details confirm Trump's keynote is pencilled in for around 9pm ET on Wednesday, underscoring the party's strategy of centring the event, dubbed "Trumpapalooza," on Trump himself to energise "low-propensity" MAGA voters who tend not to vote when he is not on the ballot.

RNC Chair Joe Gruters called Trump "the best showman in politics" and "the best vote getter," saying the convention is designed to put him "on the ballot" for Republicans defending narrow House and Senate majorities with early voting just weeks away. The party is battling historical trends of midterm losses for the governing side, alongside inflation, high fuel prices and Trump's negative approval ratings, while Democrats, whose own committee remains in debt and skipped a similar convention, have attacked the event as an expensive party masking a "failing presidency" and highlighted that several Republicans in tight races are staying away.