The Republican Party held its first ever midterm convention in Dallas on Sept. 9 and 10 with the intention to rally its base and prevent the expected losses the party faces in November’s elections. Pennsylvania is an electoral battleground once again and a few of the Commonwealth’s federal officeholders took the stage to make the case for the GOP to continue holding onto power in Washington, D.C.
Termed “Trumpapalooza,” the midterm convention brought many of the party’s high profile candidates to Dallas for a large-scale rally alongside President Doanld Trump and members of his administration. Their thinking is that by rallying with Trump, candidates will convince his most strident supporters who propelled him to a second term in 2024 to come out and vote despite Trump himself not being on the ballot. Should the GOP succeed, it would defy the midterm trend where the party occupying the presidency faces electoral losses.
This idea has not landed with every Republican seeking election this November, especially given Trump’s unpopularity with the wider electorate. Several battleground Republicans, including Pennsylvania’s Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (who has a history of disagreement with Trump) chose to not attend, but Pennsylvania’s three other battleground GOP incumbents decided that rallying the base was a worthwhile endeavor.
Rep. Rob Bresnahan spoke on the first night of the convention. A freshman who represents Northeast Pennsylvania thanks to a one-point win in 2024, Bresnahan faces a difficult reelection against Democratic nominee Paige Cognetti, the mayor of Scranton.
On the second night, Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, another freshman who represents the Lehigh Valley, spoke. Like Bresnahan, Mackenzie narrowly won his election thanks in part to Trump’s electoral performance. He faces Democratic nominee and firefighter union leader Bob Brooks.
Rep. Scott Perry, whose district includes Harrisburg and York, attended the convention but did not speak. The seven-term incumbent has seen his margin of victory shrink in successive elections and is facing a rematch with Democrat Janelle Stelson, a former news anchor for WGAL-TV.
Pennsylvania’s Republican senator Dave McCormick also addressed the convention on the first night, but is not up for reelection. What came as a big surprise though was who introduced him—Pennsylvania’s Democratic senator John Fetterman.
Fetterman, who introduced McCormick in a pre-recorded video, has drawn the ire of fellow Democrats for his occasional willingness to go against the party line and criticize the party’s priorities. A frequent target of his criticism has been the party’s left flank, especially the growing cohort of democratic socialists whom he has labeled “anti-American.”
The intraparty hostility has resulted in a quirk in polling—Fetterman is more popular with Pennsylvania Republicans than Democrats and slightly more popular with Republicans than McCormick. This ironically lopsided popularity and now his cameo at the GOP convention has fueled talk he may switch parties. Fetterman however has previously shot down this possibility, saying he would make “a terrible Republican.”
The presence of these Pennsylvanians at the GOP convention shows how crucial the Commonwealth has become as both parties seek power or hope to hold onto it. Pennsylvania was second only to Texas in having the most speakers at the convention.
