A National Convention Lands 30 Miles East, and the Tickets Are a Lottery
The Republican midterm convention runs Sept. 9-10 at American Airlines Center, with free public tickets awarded at random. What is planned, how the region handled 1984, and where voters say their priorities sit.
Sasha Esparza
August 16, 2026/2 min read
Chart: most important issue to U.S. adults, Marquette Law School Poll, July 22-29, 2026. Inflation and cost of living 35%, economy 15%, Iran-Israel-U.S. war 10%, Medicare and Social Security 9%, SAVE America Act 9%, health care 5%, immigration and border security 5%, housing affordability 5%, crime 2%, abortion policy 1%.
A national political convention is coming to the other side of the Metroplex next month, and for once the tickets are not reserved for delegates and donors.
The Republican National Committee holds its midterm convention Sept. 9 and 10 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, with President Donald Trump expected to appear. Free tickets are being distributed by lottery, with applications open since Saturday at GOPConvention.com. Winners are drawn at random, and the committee said a select few will receive VIP seating in the front row.
The scale the party is describing
RNC spokesman Zach Kraft told CBS Texas the party anticipates a turnout exceeding its 2024 national convention, saying, "This event will be larger than the Republican convention in Milwaukee in 2024." The committee has not released an attendance estimate.
Preparations point to a sizable operation. The RNC is recruiting up to 750 volunteers per day through its convention site, and plans programming outside the arena at Victory Plaza with food, drinks and guest performers. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson both plan to attend, Axios reported.
Kraft said speakers will emphasize the administration's tax bill and border policy and draw contrasts with Democratic candidates.
What the public says matters
Whatever the program, the electorate's stated concerns are concentrated on costs. In the Marquette Law School Poll's national survey of 1,076 adults, conducted July 22-29 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points, inflation and the cost of living was the top issue at 35%. The economy followed at 15%.
The war involving Iran, Israel and the United States drew 10%, less than half its 24% share in April. Medicare and Social Security tied with the proposed SAVE America Act at 9% each. Health care, immigration and border security, and housing affordability each drew 5%, with immigration down from 14% in January. Crime came in at 2% and abortion policy at 1%.
The last one, in 1984
North Texas last hosted a Republican National Convention in August 1984, when the 33rd convention met Aug. 20-23 at the Dallas Convention Center and renominated President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush, according to the Library of Congress record. Jeane Kirkpatrick, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, spoke on foreign policy the opening day.
Its most durable legacy was legal rather than political. A protester, Gregory Lee Johnson, burned an American flag in front of Dallas City Hall that year and was convicted under Texas law. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in 1989 that the act was protected expression under the First Amendment, a decision that still governs flag-desecration law nationwide.
Then and now
The region has changed considerably in the intervening four decades. Dallas alone is now estimated at 1,329,491 residents, up from 1,197,816 in 2010, and the venue hosting September's convention did not exist in 1984; American Airlines Center opened in 2001.
Sources: Republican National Committee; Marquette Law School Poll; Library of Congress; Oyez; U.S. Census Bureau.
Chart: most important issue to U.S. adults, Marquette Law School Poll, July 22-29, 2026. Inflation and cost of living 35%, economy 15%, Iran-Israel-U.S. war 10%, Medicare and Social Security 9%, SAVE America Act 9%, health care 5%, immigration and border security 5%, housing affordability 5%, crime 2%, abortion policy 1%.
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