'Energiser' or 'circus': US voters weigh in on Trump's midterm convention

The Republican National Committee's midterm convention, a first-of-its-kind event intended to mobilise voters ahead of the legislative elections in November, has underscored the significance of Texas as a key battleground state. The atypical event, hastily announced by President Donald Trump in June, is seen as a last-ditch effort to energise voters and maintain the decades-long conservative hold on statewide office. Despite Trump's low approval rating, which has dipped in recent months, his presence will still draw large crowds, with 58-year-old Cody Johnson stating that 'People will come from miles around [to see Trump]'. However, not everyone is convinced of the convention's effectiveness, with Shania Spears questioning how it will address the state's growing discontent with Republican Governor Greg Abbott's leadership and Trump's second term. The Lone Star State has long been held up as an emblem of the 'red state model', defined by a low-tax, low-regulation economic model and socially conservative policies. According to J Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, Texas looms very large in the Republican imagination as a kind of exemplar state for Republican policies. The state's three branches of government have been controlled by Republicans for three decades, with a Democrat last winning statewide office in 1994. Trump will find a warm reception from his base in Texas, but the location also underscores the state's increasingly precarious position for Republicans.