The American Airlines Center in Dallas, which will host the first Republican midterm convention in the party's history this September. Seating chart available upon payment.
The Republican National Committee confirmed this week that it will hold the first midterm convention in the party's history, a two day gathering in Dallas on September 9th and 10th that will select no nominee and adopt no platform. Party officials describe it as a celebration of the administration's accomplishments ahead of November. President Trump has called it "a RALLY like none other."
State parties, meanwhile, have begun selling seats. The Michigan Republican Party is charging $7,500 for a single floor credential, or $10,000 for a couple. The Texas Republican Party is asking $20,000 for what it calls an "honorary delegate" package, which includes a two night hotel stay and a Texas shirt and cowboy hat. California is offering VIP delegate access starting at $10,000, with a top tier package running $250,000 that includes floor access, hotel rooms, and a gift bag bearing the state party logo.
Nobody at the convention will be voting on anything. There is no nominee to select in a midterm year, and no platform on the agenda. The credentials being sold are, by the party's own description, honorary. Soltis has twelve sources close to the matter, and all twelve describe the gift bags as excellent.
One Republican consultant, granted anonymity to discuss the planning, told a reporter this week that the event is "not a real convention," adding that the party "hasn't written any rules for this" and calling the whole thing "a grifter free-for-all." Soltis's sources, who were not asked, agree, and add that the cowboy hat runs a little large.
The American Airlines Center seats twenty thousand people. Party organizers privately concede they are not certain they can fill it, given the president's approval rating and a Texas Senate race currently polling as a dead heat. If seats go unsold, several described a fallback plan to give them away for free, a arrangement some might describe as the original gift article.
Sources further indicate that at least four sitting members of Congress have privately asked whether attendance is mandatory, and were told that it is not, but that seating charts are being finalized soon.
A spokesperson for the Texas Republican Party confirmed the cowboy hats are one size fits most, and that most has not been defined.
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