"I think the Republicans are in much better shape than what a lot of these media polls are showing, and look, we still got a long way to go between now and Election Day," pollster Jim McLaughlin said.
Page A9From§Eachthe wee small hours edition — 31 August 2026
GOP trails in 8 battleground Senate races, readies hasty 'Trump-a-palooza' convention two months out
As it ran on the front
Republicans are, according to a polling aggregate covering eight battleground Senate races two months before Election Day, trailing in all eight, and this reporter wants to be clear that a polling aggregate is not a vote count, it is a snapshot — a snapshot that happens to show the same result in eight separate states, which this reporter will note is not really eight separate snapshots so much as one very consistent — anyway. The point is nothing is decided.
In response, or possibly unrelated, party officials are preparing what has been described, by the party's own people, as a 'very hasty' Trump-a-palooza convention in Texas. This reporter is authorized to say that 'hasty' here means efficient. The party does not need months of advance planning to demonstrate strength; it needs a stage, a crowd, and a schedule, and if the schedule came together faster than usual that is a sign of enthusiasm, not — it is not a sign of anything being thrown together at the last minute in response to bad numbers. That would be reactive, and this party is not reactive. This party is proactive, on a hasty timeline, which this reporter understands is a contradiction and is choosing not to examine further.…
…(cont) Is the convention a response to the polling? No official has tied the two together, and this reporter is not going to be the one to tie them together, even though they land in the same news cycle, from the same party, involving the same eight states this reporter just mentioned and is now going to stop mentioning.
What can be said plainly: eight races, trailing, per the aggregate. One convention, hasty, per the party's own description. Whether a hasty celebration two months out is the sign of a party expecting to win those eight races is a question this reporter is not equipped to answer, and is increasingly unsure he was equipped to ask in the first place.
“You're down in eight races with the clock running, so the move is a hasty party in Texas. That's not a strategy, that's a wake dressed up as a rally. The tab for that convention comes out of the same donor pool that could've gone to turnout operations in the eight states where the polling aggregate has you losing.”
“This isn't hasty, this is decisive — the party moves fast because the party is confident, that's the message. We're not behind in eight races, we're — okay, the aggregate says eight, but aggregates aren't gospel. They're just math.”
The receipts
The Republican National Committee’s (RNC) first-of-its-kind midterm convention has been cloaked in mystery until a few weeks ago. Details are finally emerging about what’s expected to be a two-day pep rally to bolster hype and encourage…
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.