Democrats set to stage counter event at RNC Midterm Convention: Texas is in play
Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced that he and at least four other Democratic members of the House will join Texas Democrats in staging a counter-event to the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas.
Democratic Reps. Robert Garcia and Sydney Kamlager-Dove of California, Jason Crow of Colorado and Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania are going to Texas to counter the GOP event, which begins Wednesday.
“While swing-seat House Republicans try to hide from their record of raising costs on working families, gutting Medicaid to fund tax breaks for billionaire donors and supporting a reckless war of choice in Iran, House Democrats will be present to hold them accountable,” Jeffries said, according to The Hill.
"Americans are being crushed by rising costs," Crow said in a post on X last week about their plans to support Democrats in Texas. "Republicans don't care — they're in Dallas, celebrating an out of touch President whose tariffs and wars are making things worse. We're going to hold them accountable."
Democratic Texas gubernatorial hopeful Gina Hinojosa, who has been polling strongly against incumbent Republican Greg Abbott, said she believes Texas is in play and is grateful for the national attention.
"I welcome the attention on Texas. Texas is battleground in 2026. If you don’t believe it, look at what Republicans are doing. But that’s what I hear every day on the campaign trail," she told The Hill.
"If you look at the polling, President Trump is underwater, [Texas Gov.] Greg Abbott is underwater and people are tired of this ‘politics as usual.’ People want change in Texas. They’re galvanizing, organizing. We’re building real momentum in this race,” Hinojosa added.
The congressional visit coincides with a broader mobilization effort among liberal groups during the convention. More than a dozen organizations, including the progressive grassroots group Indivisible, are separately planning rallies in downtown Dallas during the convention. Indivisible recently named Texas part of its "Battlegrounds" program, identifying the traditionally red state as a top target for the midterms.
"I don't know who we have to pay to thank the Republicans for doing this at this time, but I'm happy they're coming. I hope it gets as much airtime as possible," Matt Angle, founder of the Texas-based Democratic PAC Lone Star Project, told The Hill. "It gives Democrats another event to organize around and another opportunity to make the case in a convincing way."
In June, President Donald Trump announced in a Truth Social post that there would be a midterm party convention in Dallas, the first-ever in the GOP’s history.
"We are going to celebrate the GREAT AMERICAN COMEBACK, and the incredible successes of the American People who transformed our Country through the America First Agenda,” stated Trump.
“NO TAX ON TIPS, NO TAX ON OVERTIME, NO TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY, STRONGER BORDERS, SAFEST EVER COMMUNITIES, LOWER COSTS AND REAL AFFORDABILITY, MORE JOBS, AMERICAN ENERGY DOMINANCE, AND SO MUCH MORE!"
Trump is scheduled to speak on both nights of the convention, while Vice President JD Vance is slated to deliver the keynote address on Thursday, according to Just The News.
RNC Chairman Joe Gruters has described the gathering as a "Trump-a-palooza"-themed event, though some Republicans have privately expressed concern over steep attendance costs and scheduling conflicts with the NFL season opener, according to Congress.net.
The Texas GOP has promoted the convention as an “unprecedented event” that “will serve as a national celebration of American exceptionalism, freedom, opportunity, and prosperity.”
Recently, Dallas city officials decided not to issue a permit for a planned protest near the convention that was organized by the Dallas Against the Trump Agenda Coalition.
A Dallas Police Department spokeswoman told The Christian Post last week that both Dallas PD and the city’s Office of Special Events “felt it was best for the organizers to not obtain a permit and work directly with DPD for a quicker process.”
In addition to the House Democrats staging an event, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico is holding a statewide charity event called the “Love Thy Neighbor” food drive as a counter to the midterm convention.
The food drive runs Sunday through Wednesday, with donation collection sites in Dallas, Plano, Glenn Heights, Fort Worth, Denton, El Paso, McAllen and Lubbock, according to KERA News. On Wednesday, volunteers will distribute the collected food from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Frederick Douglass Human Services and Justice Center in Dallas.
"Billionaire mega-donors and their puppet politicians will gather at a convention in Dallas to clink champagne glasses and toast their own corruption," Talarico said, according to Just The News. "They're paying $20,000 for entry to a Billionaire Ball celebrating corrupt tariffs, billionaire tax breaks, and a new forever war that are all driving grocery costs through the roof. We'll be doing something different."
Talarico is running against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who defeated GOP incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican Primary earlier this year. Recent polling shows Talarico with a narrow lead of roughly 3 percentage points over Paxton, with the race widely considered to be within the margin of error.
