Access to President Trump at the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Dallas came with prices in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to reporting from Punchbowl News and other outlets covering the two-day event at the American Airlines Center.
A private roundtable with Trump on September 9 carried a $250,000-per-person price, Punchbowl News reported, with an additional $88,600 charged for a photo opportunity with the president. A separate roundtable with Vice President JD Vance, held the following day, cost $75,000 per person, with photos priced at $35,000. Other tiers of convention access included top-level tickets around $100,000 and “honorary delegate” status offered through some state party websites for up to $20,000, according to reporting from IBTimes UK and the Dallas Observer.
The pricing extended to sitting Republican members of Congress. Axios reported that many incumbent House Republicans were asked to pay $25,000 to attend the convention, though the party’s most vulnerable incumbents, those in competitive districts, were exempted from the fee. The arrangement drew open frustration from some lawmakers. “It’s $25,000, apparently. It’s pretty steep,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) told reporters. Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-Texas) told Axios that the cost was a burden for members without large donor networks, saying, “Not everybody is a fundraising juggernaut, and some of those folks feel it’s better spent on themselves.”
The Republican National Committee has said it raised roughly $42 million to fund the convention and expects around 30,000 attendees over the two days. The event, the party’s first-ever midterm convention, was designed to raise money and rally Republican voters roughly two months before the November elections, in which the GOP is defending narrow majorities in both the House and Senate.
At least 45 Republican members of Congress told reporters they were skipping the convention or remained undecided about attending, according to IBTimes UK, with some citing cost and scheduling conflicts, including overlap with the NFL season opener and the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The RNC has not released a full accounting of how proceeds from the roundtables, photo fees and delegate packages will be allocated between the national party, state parties and individual candidates.
None of the fees reported at the convention are unprecedented in national party fundraising. Both major parties have long charged donors for access to elected officials at conventions and galas, and courts have generally treated such payments as protected political fundraising rather than a form of bribery, provided the money is not tied to a specific official act. No legal challenge to this week’s pricing structure had been filed as of this writing.
The disclosed figures for Trump’s roundtable and photo line have shifted somewhat across outlets in the days leading up to the convention, with early reports citing a lower photo price before Punchbowl News and other outlets settled on $88,600 as the confirmed figure once RNC fundraising materials circulated among donors and vendors. The $250,000 roundtable price and the $25,000 House member fee have been consistent across multiple reports.
Sources: Punchbowl News · Axios · IBTimes UK
