Reports that President Donald Trump is considering holding a midterm election Republican convention next year reveal that the nation’s impresario-in-chief continues to think outside the political box.
If it happens, it could be a brilliant innovation and give further momentum to a now-developing counter-historical trend that might enable the party in power to actually make gains in the first midterm of a new presidency.
Previously, the only time a major party held a national midterm convention was in 1974. The Democrats held one in Kansas City for the purpose of rewriting their national charter. Republican Richard Nixon was president and then mired in Watergate. Democrats netted four Senate seats and 45 House seats that November.
I attended the national conventions for both major parties (and those of several minor parties) in the period from 1988 to 2008. By that period, the conventions were no longer contests for the presidential nomination — the primaries had already determined the winner.
Instead, the national conventions had become a showcase for the nominees and for leaders of their party. There was no real suspense, but there was always plenty of spectacle created with the intention of motivating voters to support their candidates.
A midterm convention, especially if the party that is holding it could use it to focus and to motivate the general public to turn out to vote for the party’s candidates for U.S. House and U.S. Senate races, as well as governorships and state legislature seats which are on the ballot in November 2026, could be a resounding success.
This is particularly true given President Trump’s unique ability to drive the national conversation and media coverage. A midterm convention with Mr. Trump as the headliner would add to his legacy as a master narrative-builder.
Not only could such an event showcase the party’s midterm candidates, but in 2026, it also could showcase the Trump administration’s domestic and foreign policy successes.
The historical pattern of the party in power losing U.S. House and Senate seats in the midterm elections is generally caused by many of that party’s base voters not voting. Having won the previous presidential election and presumably content with the new president’s policies, many voters feel no urgency to head to the polls.
In the case of the Republican Party, in recent years, it has also been handicapped by the heavy bias against it by the establishment media.
President Trump’s media skills have countered this bias, and he has managed to dominate the news both in and out of power. But he will not be on the ballot in 2026, and many Republican candidates will be at a media disadvantage in their districts and states as they face bias against them from local newspapers and broadcast media.
A 2026 GOP convention could significantly enhance Republican candidacies by enabling conservative and independent print and broadcast media, as well as sympathetic social media voices, to communicate the GOP message to the public.
Such an event also puts the national Democrat Party on the spot. If they choose not to have a national midterm convention of their own, they will be conceding valuable public attention to their candidates. But if they do have a convention in 2026, they will have to display their radical urban candidates and policies, which are unpopular in most of the country. Their current trend of frequently neo-Marxist views is not likely to play well with national audiences, which include rural, small-town, and suburban voters who strongly oppose them — and might well be provoked to turn out to vote for Republicans in larger numbers than expected.
This could be especially likely if the high-profile radical Democrat mayoral candidates running this year are elected. They might win locally, but they could frighten voters elsewhere.
Of course, any current positive trends in the economy and foreign affairs might not be so favorable by next summer. Inflation and unemployment could rise, conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East could continue, and unexpected negative developments could occur. The COVID-19 pandemic serves as the most recent and striking example of how quickly things can change.
But in that case, a national GOP midterm convention would enable Republicans to better frame events against the inevitable media bias and the arguments of the Democrats.
In any event, a midterm convention would be a win-win political innovation, especially under the guidance of a master of showmanship and spectacle who knows how to speak directly to voters.
Barry Casselman is a contributor to AMAC Newsline.
