Republicans are gathering in Dallas to hear from an influential and polarizing national leader — and it's not the first time they've done that.
The first Republican midterm convention is scheduled to begin on Wednesday. It's seen as an opportunity to drum up support ahead of what's expected to be a challenging election for the GOP. President Donald Trump is headlining the event, which RNC chairman Joe Gruters described as a "Trumpapalooza" in a press release.
"This historic Midterm Convention will highlight President Trump's many accomplishments and unwavering commitment to restoring America," Gruters said.
The 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas was also something of a celebration and a pep rally, but there were significant differences.
Delegates enthusiastically nominated President Ronald Reagan for a second term that year. They also tended to the traditional business of a national convention — like developing a party platform.
And politically, Republicans were on the cusp of dominating local politics in 1984.
Now, the city of Dallas — and Dallas County — trend blue. The last time a Republican presidential candidate fared better in Dallas County than a Democrat was in 2004, when George W. Bush picked up a 1.4% margin over John Kerry.
And even statewide, Democrats appear to be mounting some serious challenges to Republican dominance. Recent polls show Democrat James Talarico neck and neck or slightly leading Republican Ken Paxton in Texas' U.S. Senate race.
But it was a different story in 1984. And there was no mystery about who would receive the nomination at the Republican Convention in Dallas that year.
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Peggy Lundy, who volunteered at the 1984 convention, said she was in awe of Reagan in the 1980s.
"He's the only one that I would stand on a chair and scream for," Lundy said. "He was just so exciting. He would come into the room, and he was so present, and just so much bigger than life."
The 1980s was an exciting time to be a Republican in Dallas, she said. The rest of the state was still transitioning from conservative Democrat to Republican, but Lundy said Dallas County was already on its way to becoming a red powerhouse in 1984. After the November election in 1984, the Dallas County commissioners and the Dallas County Judge were Republicans, outnumbering the Democrats on the court 3-2.
The Republicans chose Dallas for the 1984 convention to build on that momentum, said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.
"The convention was placed in Dallas to try to speed that up, to consolidate that move from Democrat to Republican control, not just in Dallas, but more broadly in Texas," Jillson said.
'Rolled out the red carpet'
Dallas is centrally located between the East and West coasts. That made it attractive for a national convention in 1984 and in 2026. It was also undergoing rapid population growth.
The Dallas County population was about 1.7 million in 1984, up from about 1.6 million in the 1980 census according to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
The county has added more than one million residents since 1984, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
People were attracted to the economy, culture and politics in Dallas, said Sean Cunningham, a political science and history professor at Texas Tech University.
"Dallas in 1984 is one of the hottest cities in America," Cunningham said.
It was also hot temperature-wise during the convention that year. Temperatures topped 100 degrees daily.
Susan Fischer volunteered with the vendors at the 1984 convention. She said the air conditioning was blasting at the convention center to cool people off from the heat.
"You'd be coming in sweating, and then you'd need your jacket," Fischer said.
Temperatures this year are also expected to be high during the 2026 convention.
The protesters, Tina Yampanis said, couldn't take the heat. Yampanis is a long-time Dallas Republican operative who was the assistant to Martha Barnes Weisend, the co-chair of the 1984 convention host committee.
"They lasted about four hours out of the five days," she said. "So not much of a presence, which was perfect."
The Dallas Morning News reported at the time that about half a dozen protesters were treated for heat exhaustion.
Protesters were relegated to tents along the Trinity River levee west of downtown Dallas. Most were members of a group called the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The group named the tent city Reagan Ranch.
People were there to protest Reagan's economic policies, Pattie Lamiell, a spokesperson for the group, told The News in 1984.
"We are not hippies out here," Lamiell said. "I think the median age of the protesters is about 40. Many of us are working people. Some of us have lost our jobs because of the Reagan administration."
The convention took place at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in downtown Dallas. The convention center is currently undergoing renovations, so this year's gathering will be at the American Airlines Center.
Dallas was eager to host the convention and shake off its reputation as the city where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated about 20 years earlier, Fischer said. Security, she said, was tight.
"I was so afraid that if I opened the wrong door, I'd get arrested or something, because the Secret Service were everywhere," Fischer said.
Residents, Yampanis said, rolled out the red carpet. She helped coordinate 12,500 volunteers.
"It was like Dallas was living and breathing it, Yampanis said. "They were so positive. It was upbeat, and fun, and inclusive."
Working at the convention was magical, she said. Yampanis, who was 24 during the convention, remembers seeing Rita Clements, Gov. Clements' wife, sitting on the ground in an immaculate suit sorting through invitations for after parties. Yampanis rushed to alert her boss that Mrs. Clements was sitting on the floor.
Her boss, she said, wasn't concerned and told her to keep going.
"We didn't stop for anything," Yampanis said. "It was 24 hours a day."
Political shift
/ Courtesy Tina Yampanis
Change was in the air in 1984. Many Republicans who attended the convention felt they were on the cusp of a seismic political shift, a hunch that was proven right a few months later on Election Day. Reagan won in a landslide, securing 49 out of 50 states' electoral college votes, including Texas.
Texas has a long history of being a conservative state, Cunningham said. But it was mostly led by conservative Democrats. The Republicans, he said, were gaining a foothold in the state in 1984.
"The Texas GOP in '84 is kind of this young, growing, dynamic, powerful party that is emerging as a viable threat to the to the stronghold that conservative Democrats have had on the state for a long time," Cunningham said.
Reagan, he said, lured many conservative Democrats in Texas to the Republican party. He won a majority of the state's votes both times he ran for president.
"That cult of personality really drew a lot of voters, including in Texas," Cunningham said. "He was the excuse that a lot of people needed to say, I've been a conservative my entire life, and I've been a loyal Democrat, it seems like I can't be both anymore."
Republicans eventually controlled every seat of power in Texas by 2002, including both chambers of the state legislature. In Dallas, all but one of the county commissioners, John Wiley Price, were Republican.
Four years later, Democrats in Dallas County picked up several judicial seats and the county judge position. Other large counties in the state followed a similar trend. The courts, Yampanis said, lost experienced judges.
Neighboring counties like Collin County, Lundy said, were becoming redder.
"The blue vote was being more established inside Dallas County, and the red vote was going to the other counties," she said.
Another change?
Today, Dallas is a largely Democratic city led by a Republican mayor who switched political parties in 2023.
And Democrats see this year's U.S. Senate race as their best chance to turn the state back to blue. Democrat James Talarico is ahead of his Republican opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in several polls. Both have made frequent campaign stops in North Texas, a key battleground for the state.
The unprecedented mid-term convention suggests Republicans are concerned about the polls, Jillson said. An Aug. 24 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll shows Talarico leading Paxton 42% to 39%.
"They can read public opinion in regard to President Trump, in regard the war in Iran, in regard to various of their candidates, like Ken Paxton here in Texas, and even Governor Abbott is running only four or five points ahead of his Democrat opponent who has far less money and name recognition than he does," he said.
The president isn't on the ballot this year — and can't run for office again after this term ends – but voters do see the midterms as a referendum on the president, said Thomas Gray, a University of Texas at Dallas political science professor.
How will that play out in November? Many Republicans hope the 2026 convention will drive up momentum and support for their candidates — and counter the potential effect of Trump's low approval ratings on the midterms.
Gray isn't sure what will happen — especially when it comes to the Paxton-Talarico race.
"Historically, when people are unhappy, they vote against the party who controls the White House," Gray said.
But he also sees Paxton as the kind of candidate that polls are unable to properly measure.
"He is perhaps the most President Trump-like candidate anywhere in the country that isn't named Donald Trump," he said. "And...Donald Trump has consistently performed better than his polling."
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