Delegate Badges Going for $20,000 a Pop
at Trump Comeback Convention in Dallas
Capitol Inside
July 7, 2026
An inaugural midterm "convention" that President Donald Trump is having the Republican Party stage for him in Texas in September will actually be a fundraising rally for anyone willing to shell over $5,000 or an admission ticket or $20,000 if they want to attend as an official delegate.
The event that's being billed as the Great American Comeback Convention Rally is set for September 9 and 10 at the American Airlines Center on the northern outskirts of downtown Dallas. But the gathering will be a convention in name only with no platform fights or caucus debates or candidates to formally nominate for battles with Democrats in the general election.
There will no precinct or county conventions where party loyalists can become delegates to the midterm convention that's the first of its kind in the United States. That's an honor that will be for sale instead in Dallas at a price that could make middle-class MAGA patriots bristle at a time when many are having trouble paying the monthly bills.
The cheapest seats at the NBA arena the Dallas Mavericks call home are going for five thousand dollars for the right to attend the Trump midterm convention-rally as an "honorary guest" who'll also be entitled to receive a "convention gift" while they're there.
Convention goers in Big D can become an "honorary alternate delegate" with a package that's going for $15,000 with perks like "priority access seating" and a three-night stay at a hotel that isn't identified. But the high-rollers who want the full experience can pay $20,000 to be an "honorary delegate" on the midterm convention floor with a plan that features lodging for three nights for a hotel that isn't specified on the promotional ad that the Texas Republican Party posted on Monday on social media. The delegate and alternative delegate deals both include a long-sleeve shirt that looks like a Texas flag and a cowboy hat. .
After spending a couple thousand dollars apiece on hotel accommodations to the Texas GOP Convention in Houston less than a month ago, the activists who were delegates there may be disappointed if they thought their credentials might still be good at the spontaneous event in Dallas.
The prospective delegates to the Trump comeback event in Dallas can forget about finding a hotel room in walking distance like those at the state convention enjoyed with air-conditioned corridors linking the nicest hotels in Houston to the George R. Brown Convention Center. One of the few hotels that's a short walk from the American Airlines Center - the W Hotel - was completely booked within days of the president's announcement on the Dallas event.
Rooms were still available early Tuesday evening at the Omni Dallas, which has served as the state party's headquarter hotel on the other side of downtown when Texas GOP conventions were being held at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in the past 20 years. But a room that cost $291 per night from September 8 to 11 late last week when fees and taxes are included was selling on Tuesday night for $450.
Trump will be hoping that the midterm convention-rally goes off better than a disastrous July 4th celebration that he directed in Washington D.C. last week. Trump says he plans the novel event in Dallas as an opportunity showcase his achievements as the self-proclaimed greatest president in American 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 ...," Trump and Vice-President JD Vance both are quoted as saying in a flyer that was circulated by the Texas GOP. "It will be a RALLY like none other."
The Dallas event should give Ken Paxton - the Republican nominee in an open U.S. Senate race in Texas - an opportunity to try to make up for time he lost on the campaign trail while vacationing in Europe during the past week. Paxton and a female traveling partner were spotted on Monday in London by someone who recorded them walking down a street in a cell phone video that they posted on X.
Paxton faces Democrat James Talarico in the Texas Senate fight that gives the minority party their best shot at a seat here in 38 years. Paxton's plan to have Trump center stage in his campaign appears to be a highly risky gamble that could backfire if the president's record low popularity ratings fail to rebound in the next few months. Talarico and Paxton have been running even in the polling on the race since the state attorney general claimed the nomination by ousting incumbent John Cornyn in a primary runoff election in May.
more to come ...
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