Trump Eyes Las Vegas for Rare Midterm GOP Convention

• If President Donald Trump has his way, a potential midterm Republican convention could be held in Las Vegas next year
• Republicans have never before held a midterm convention
• Democrats experimented with the concept in the 1970s and ’80s

Las Vegas is the top contender for a midterm Republican convention that President Trump plans to hold ahead of next year’s midterm elections, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Washington, DC, and an unnamed Texas city are also reportedly in the running, though Las Vegas is favored.

According to the Journal, the president first pitched the idea of a midterm convention last year to showcase Republican House and Senate candidates and energize his political base. He wants it to replicate the “entertainment-heavy” convention held for his presidential run last July in Milwaukee. That spectacle featured rapping from Kid Rock and a speech by Hulk Hogan in which the wrestling legend tore off his shirt to reveal another one underneath bearing Trump’s name.

According to the Journal, the convention will be held close to the start of early midterm voting next September.

Two Historic Firsts

A Las Vegas midterm would qualify as two historic firsts — because Las Vegas has never held a national political convention, and because the GOP has never held a midterm convention. Democrats experimented with them in the 1970s and ‘80s, but they were informal and short-lived.

“Stay tuned, it will be quite the Event, and very exciting!” Trump posted to his social media platform, Truth Social, after announcing the idea last month.

Trump won Nevada by 50.6% in 2024 — the first time a Republican presidential candidate carried the battleground state in two decades — and co-owns a 64-story off-Strip hotel emblazoned with his surname.

The party controlling the White House historically loses midterm elections. Republicans hold small majorities in the House and Senate, and can’t afford to let that happen.

The Democrats are considering their own midterm convention as well, though nothing has been announced yet.