The Republican Party will hold an off-year convention this fall. Donald Trump floated the idea last August. The Republican National Committee amended the party rules in January to allow for a ceremonial off-year convention. The party rules posted on the RNC website are dated July 15, 2024, with no indication of amendment this January, but Rule 13(b) encompasses the off-year convention concept:
A special ceremonial convention may be called by the Chairman of the Republican National Committee provided that a call is issued by the Chairman at least sixty (60) days in advance. The Chairman shall designate the membership in a special convention, and no business shall be conducted at such a convention. The Rules of the Republican Party and parliamentary procedure shall not otherwise apply to such a convention [Republican National Convention, “The Rules of the Republican Party,” Rule 13(b), “as adopted by the 43rd Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024”, retrieved 2026.07.02].
No business, no resolutions, no parly pro, just a “Trumpapalooza” (says RNC chairman Joe Gruters) with Great Entertainment” (says Trump) in Dallas September 9 and 10. The rules for picking delegates don’t apply, so South Dakota’s Republicans, who have already held their convention, are apparently free to send whomever they want to Dallas. Florida’s and Massachusetts’s GOPs are taking applications from any interested Republican, so the SDGOP could follow their lead.
Trump says the “Historic” midterm convention “has never been done before“, but it has, by Democrats, in 1974, 1978, and 1982. Dems held their 1974 and 1978 midterm conventions after the midterm elections, in December. The only memorable result of any of those off-year conventions was the launching of Ted Kennedy’s challenge to incumbent President Jimmy Carter:
In December 1978, 1,633 Democratic delegates gathered for the second midterm convention at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, Tennessee. This meeting proved even less successful than the first. Carter’s defense of his anti-inflationary austerity plan, which would cut the federal budget, displeased many who wanted leaders to champion Democratic traditions rather than shift to the right.
“It is an illusion to believe we can preserve a commitment to compassionate, progressive government,” the president argued, “if we fail to bring inflation under control.”
The speech with the greatest impact came from Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, the youngest brother of the two slain leaders. He challenged the administration’s centrism and urged fellow Democrats to defend traditional liberal ideals to fight back against a growing conservative movement that sought to repudiate the legacies of former Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson.
“The party that tore itself apart over Vietnam in the 1960s,” Kennedy warned, “cannot afford to tear itself apart today over budget cuts in basic social programs.”
Other than Kennedy’s fiery blast against Carter, what ended up being most notable about Memphis was how many prominent Democrats didn’t attend. “Our turndown list reads like a Who’s Who of American politics,” DNC staffer Elaine Kamarck lamented to Time magazine.
Democrats remained deeply divided heading into the 1980 election. During the primaries, Kennedy challenged Carter. The midterm convention had been a launching pad for his candidacy. Carter survived the contest, but Kennedy’s attacks further weakened him, casting the president as so intent on rejecting old orthodoxies that he had abandoned core values.
At the Democratic National Convention that summer, delegates responded more enthusiastically to Kennedy’s speech than to Carter’s. Worst of all for Democrats, the two midterm conventions had done nothing to blunt the conservative movement. The decade ended with Ronald Reagan, the conservative movement’s leader, on his way to the Oval Office [Julian E. Zelizer, “Why Both Parties Are Considering Midterm Conventions,” Foreign Policy, 2025.09.25].
Democrats abandoned the off-year convention in 1986 and decided this March they don’t have the cash to resurrect the apparently unproductive idea themselves this year.
Trump and the RNC are staging this Trumpapalooza to boost their chances of clinging to control of Congress in November. But no matter how many ceremonial balloons the Republicans drop in Dallas in September, history, inflation, and polls suggest the midterms will still make Trump a big midterm loser.
Oh I’m sure the Trumpapalooza would help Trump economically. Sell more fictional material. Order another phone, cryptocurrency, maybe he’ll revive Trump U. He can get all his welfare farmers and ranchers to attend after all he ruined their markets so he could bail them out. They love him. Such an ingenious scammer. No wonder he loves stupid people.