2026-08-24T10:04:43.642Z / 路透社
8月24日（路透社）——据共和党官员、捐赠者和大会策划者透露，唐纳德·特朗普总统领导的共和党愈发将下月在达拉斯举办的首届中期选举大会视为重振声势的关键节点。当前民意调查显示，选民对经济和伊朗战争感到不满。
共和党今年早些时候宣布举办此次大会时，一些战略人士认为竞选已进入最后阶段，此举不过是分散注意力的举动。他们质疑在没有正式党务工作的情况下举办全国性集会的必要性。
如今，在经历了数月与战争相关的负面头条新闻和生活成本上涨之后，共和党官员将9月9日至10日的这场集会视为最佳契机，在民主党针对共和党掌控的国会参众两院发起严峻挑战之际，团结选民支持特朗普的执政议程。不过，部分共和党人仍怀疑此次大会能否切实改变选民的意向。
与会的共和党官员表示，此次活动提供了一个平台，可让选民重新关注特朗普的减税政策、移民政策及其他政绩。据一位熟悉筹备工作的消息人士透露，组织者计划重点介绍那些据称从这些政策中获益的美国人，同时将民主党描绘为日益被社会主义思潮和激进分子主导的政党。
共和党计划将特朗普置于大会的核心位置。不过，一些战略人士警告称，这一策略可能适得其反，会让人们再次关注这位支持率低迷、多次敦促美国人忍受伊朗战争带来的经济代价的总统。
共和党全国委员会发言人娜塔莉·巴尔达萨雷表示，此次大会将团结选民支持特朗普的议程，包括降低药品价格、减税和加固墨西哥南部边境等举措。
“特朗普总统动员选民的能力无人能及，此次大会将为我们在11月扩大多数席位提供所需的势头，”巴尔达萨雷在一份声明中说道。
候选人面临特朗普大会的两难处境
目前仍不清楚哪些国会候选人将在这场为期两天的活动中发表演讲。三位竞争选区竞选团队的顾问向路透社透露，他们尚未得知自己支持的候选人是否能获得演讲机会。
路透社联系了37场竞争激烈的美国众议院选区和8场势均力敌的美国参议院选区的共和党候选人代表，询问他们是否计划出席大会并发表演讲。
在45位受访者中，仅有一个竞选团队给出了实质性回应：寻求在密歇根州激烈连任竞选中连任的共和党众议员汤姆·巴雷特，他计划跳过此次大会，继续留在竞选活动中。
“他正处于艰难的连任竞选之中，选民都在他的选区内，”为巴雷特竞选团队工作的战略家杰森·卡贝尔·罗说道。
尽管如此，路透社采访的十多位党内知情人士，包括大会策划者和共和党全国委员会成员，均表示此次大会是提振共和党选民热情的最佳机会。民调显示，共和党选民的热情落后于民主党选民。
“美国没有比唐纳德·特朗普更出色的说客了。我认为这根本不会有坏处，”来自密歇根州的共和党全国委员会委员罗布·斯蒂尔说道。
与妻子共同担任大会联合主席的共和党捐赠者雷·沃什伯恩向路透社表示，他预计将有约3万名与会者，这一数字将比达拉斯美国航空中心的容纳量多出约8000人。他表示，组织者已筹集到4200万美元，将为此次活动提供全额资金支持。
大会恰逢开学季，这可能会给部分与会者带来挑战。一位州共和党主席向路透社透露，在其选区的议员表示无法调整日程安排后，他已退回了分配给本代表团的多个席位。
沃什伯恩拒绝提供完整的演讲者名单，但表示特朗普内阁的大多数部长级官员都将出席，还有“几乎所有参与热门竞选的候选人”。副总统J·D·万斯将于9月9日发表演讲，特朗普则于9月10日登场。
总部位于南卡罗来纳州的共和党战略家戴夫·威尔逊表示，他怀疑这场集会式的大会能否产生实际影响，除非它能公布一项针对选民最关心的生活成本问题的重大应对方案。
“我不知道达拉斯的这场大会能否改变怀俄明州夏延或南卡罗来纳州查尔斯顿的选举结果，”威尔逊举例说道，“我认为普通共和党选民甚至都不知道有这么一场大会正在举办。”
候选人寻求捐赠者与关注焦点
尽管此次大会不属于传统的四年一度总统选举周期，但预计它将发挥熟悉的作用，成为候选人和捐赠者的筹款与社交枢纽。共和党全国委员会已上线官网，售卖官方大会帽子、T恤和马克杯。
沃什伯恩表示，此次活动将为候选人提供大量媒体曝光机会，以宣传他们的竞选活动。沃什伯恩补充道，得克萨斯州联邦参议院候选人肯·帕克斯顿就是能从家乡举办的大会引发的关注中获益的人选，他的竞选一直饱受丑闻困扰。
鉴于特朗普的支持率仅为33%，部分共和党人质疑举办此次大会的明智性。一位参与竞争激烈竞选的战略家匿名向路透社表示，将候选人与特朗普进一步绑定几乎毫无意义，因为许多候选人正试图专注于本地议题，争取独立选民的支持。
田纳西州的共和党全国委员会委员奥斯卡·布罗克表示，许多候选人会觉得有必要出席达拉斯的这场集会，以争取捐赠者并通过媒体亮相提升自身知名度，尽管其中一些人仍对追随特朗普持谨慎态度。
内森·莱恩、史蒂夫·霍兰和理查德·考恩报道；罗斯·科尔文和霍华德·戈勒编辑
For Republicans, Dallas convention is both rally and rescue mission
2026-08-24T10:04:43.642Z / Reuters
Aug 24 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s Republican Party is increasingly viewing its first-of-a-kind midterm convention in Dallas next month as crucial to regaining momentum at a time when opinion polls show voter frustration over the economy and the Iran war, according to party officials, donors and convention planners.
When Republicans announced the convention earlier this year, some strategists dismissed it as a distraction as campaigns entered the final stretch. They questioned the need for a national gathering with no official party business.
Now, after months of negative headlines tied to the war and rising living costs, party officials see the September 9-10 gathering as their best opportunity to rally voters behind Trump’s agenda as Democrats mount a serious challenge to Republican control of both houses of Congress in the November 3 election. Some Republicans, however, remain skeptical it can meaningfully shift voter sentiment.
The party officials said the event offers a platform to refocus voters on Trump’s tax cuts, immigration policies and other achievements. Organizers plan to spotlight Americans they say have benefited from those policies while portraying the Democratic Party as increasingly dominated by socialist ideas and activists, according to a source familiar with the planning.
The party plans to put Trump at the center of the convention, a tactic some strategists warn could backfire by drawing attention to a president with a low approval rating who has repeatedly urged Americans to endure the economic costs of the Iran war.
Republican National Committee spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre said the convention would rally voters behind Trump’s agenda, including efforts to lower drug prices, cut taxes and secure the southern border with Mexico.
“President Trump turns out voters like no other candidate, and this convention will provide the momentum needed to expand our majorities in November,” Baldassarre said in a statement.
CANDIDATES FACE TRUMP CONVENTION DILEMMA
It remains unclear which congressional candidates will speak during the two-day event. Advisers to three campaigns in competitive districts told Reuters they had yet to be informed whether their candidates would be offered speaking slots.
Reuters contacted representatives for Republican candidates in 37 competitive U.S. House races and eight closely contested U.S. Senate races to ask whether they planned to attend the convention and deliver a speech.
Of the 45, only one campaign offered a substantive response: Republican Representative Tom Barrett, seeking reelection in a tight race in Michigan, who plans to skip the convention and remain on the campaign trail.
“He’s in a tough reelection campaign and his voters are in his district,” said Jason Cabel Roe, a strategist working for the Barrett campaign.
Still, most of the dozen party insiders interviewed by Reuters, including convention planners and Republican National Committee members, described the convention as the party’s best chance to energize Republican voters, whose enthusiasm trails that of Democrats, according to polls.
“There is no better salesman for the country than Donald Trump. I don’t think it’s going to hurt at all,” said Rob Steele, a Republican National Committeeman from Michigan.
Ray Washburne, a Republican donor co-chairing the convention with his wife, told Reuters he expected about 30,000 attendees, a figure that would exceed the seating capacity of the American Airlines Center in Dallas by some 8,000 people. He said organizers raised $42 million and will fully fund the event.
The timing, just at the start of the school year, could pose challenges for some attendees. One state party chair told Reuters he had returned many of his delegation’s allotted seats after members said they could not make the schedule work.
While declining to provide a complete speaker list, Washburne said most of Trump’s cabinet secretaries would attend, along with “pretty much everyone running in a hot race.” Vice President JD Vance will speak on September 9, followed by Trump on September 10.
Dave Wilson, a South Carolina-based Republican strategist, said he was skeptical a rally-style convention would move the needle unless it was used to unveil a major response to voters’ top concern: the cost of living.
“I don’t know that we’re going to see a convention in Dallas change what happens in Cheyenne, Wyoming, or Charleston, South Carolina,” Wilson said, invoking places far from the convention to illustrate his point. “I don’t think the average Republican voter even knows there’s a convention going on.”
CANDIDATES SEEK DONORS AND SPOTLIGHT
Though it falls outside the traditional four-year presidential election cycle, the convention is expected to serve a familiar purpose as a fundraising and networking hub for candidates and donors. The RNC has already launched a website selling official convention hats, T-shirts and mugs.
Washburne said the event would give candidates significant media exposure to promote their campaigns. U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton of Texas, whose campaign has been dogged by scandal, was someone who could benefit from the attention generated by a convention in his home state, Washburne added.
With Trump’s approval rating at 33%, some Republicans questioned the wisdom of the event. One strategist working on a competitive race, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it made little sense to tie candidates more closely to Trump when many are trying to focus on local issues and win over independent voters.
Oscar Brock, an RNC member from Tennessee, said many candidates would feel obliged to attend the Dallas gathering to court donors and raise their profiles through media appearances, even as some remain wary of embracing Trump.
Reporting by Nathan Layne, Steve Holland and Richard Cowan; Editing by Ross Colvin and Howard Goller