Key moments from tonight
• “Cheat like hell”: President Donald Trump closed out the GOP midterm convention by repeatedly pleading with attendees to vote. He urged them to “cheat like hell” to help Republicans keep control of Congress, and asked supporters to treat November’s elections as if he were on the ballot.
• Closing keynote: Vice President JD Vance made a direct appeal to undecided voters who have soured on the Republican Party over the Iran war and other issues. At one point, his speech was greeted by chants of “JD 48,” suggesting the Republican faithful want him to succeed Trump and become the 48th president.
• Trump’s cash pledge: The president has promised Americans $5,000 payments if Republicans retain their House and Senate majorities. He has offered no details on how the payments would be funded, but said he was not worried they would affect the country’s deficit. He also gave conflicting remarks on whether he believes they needed congressional approval.
Our live coverage of the inaugural GOP midterm convention has ended. Scroll through the posts below for a recap of the night’s key moments and speeches, and read the takeaways here.
Catch up on the first night of the convention here.
In pictures: The first-ever Republican midterm convention
In pictures: The first-ever Republican midterm convention
President Donald Trump closed out the first GOP midterm convention, an event designed to energize voters, raise money and highlight key Republican candidates ahead of the elections in November. The convention featured more than 100 speakers.
The event comes after Trump pressed for a convention-style gathering, prompting Republican leaders to amend rules that traditionally called for conventions only during presidential election years.
Fact check: Vance’s claim about violent crime under Biden
While criticizing the Biden administration, Vice President JD Vance claimed Thursday that the US “became a country where violent crime exploded, unless, of course, you could afford private security.”
But violent crime did not explode under Biden. In fact, as FactCheck.org reported last month, data collected and published by the FBI shows that the national violent crime rate was at a lower level in 2023 and 2024, the last two full calendar years of Biden’s term, than it was in 2020, the last full calendar year of Trump’s first term.
The year 2020 was highly unusual in many ways – violent crime jumped amid the Covid-19 pandemic – but Biden nonetheless left office with violent crime lower than it was when he took over. In fact, the 2024 violent crime rate was even lower than the 2019 rate under Trump before the pandemic.
There was an increase in violent crime during the earlier part of Biden’s term. But given the subsequent decline, it’s misleading at best to claim violent crime “exploded” with no further context.
Asked earlier this month about Trump’s similar previous claims to have reversed a Biden-era upswing in violence, crime data expert Jeff Asher said in an email: “No, crime began dropping significantly in 2023 during the Biden administration. Murder fell at record rates in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and, while 2026 may not feature a record decline nationally, it is still on track to see a sizable double-digit decline this year. Violent crime similarly fell nationally in 2023 and 2024, though the drops were more muted than the decline that was recorded by the FBI in 2025.”
Trump says he's not worried his offered $5,000 payments will impact deficit
President Donald Trump told reporters tonight before departing Dallas for Washington, DC, that he is not concerned his promised $5,000 payments to American adults would affect the country’s deficit.
Trump vowed Wednesday night to pay every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain their House and Senate majorities in November’s midterm elections — an extraordinary offer as he tries to keep his party in power.
The president has offered few details on how he would pay for the plan, which he has equated to companies issuing dividends to shareholders and to the extra $1,776 checks his administration issued to military members last year.
Our CNN experts analyzed Vance and Trump's remarks tonight in Dallas
Fact check: Trump’s claim on prescription drug prices
President Donald Trump took credit on Thursday for a large decline in prescription drug prices.
“We gave you the largest drop in prescription drug prices ever recorded,” he said.
It’s true that the federal Consumer Price Index showed that prescription drug prices were down 3.1% in July compared to the same month a year earlier. That’s the largest decrease in decades.
But experts have long said that the CPI is not a great measure for monitoring what Americans pay for medicine; it tracks what both individuals and payers, including commercial insurers, Medicare and Medicaid, pay for prescription drugs sold at pharmacies.
Among its shortcomings are that it does not include drugs administered by physicians, many of which are very expensive. Plus, the index can be affected by blockbuster drugs going off patent and lower-priced generic or biosimilar versions coming onto the market, according to Jeromie Ballreich, associate research professor at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
The White House argues that Trump’s “Most Favored Nation” deals, and his related TrumpRx direct-to-consumer prescription drug clearinghouse, are the main reasons behind the index’s drop. While the deals have provided meaningful discounts on GLP-1 weight loss drugs for Medicare beneficiaries and for patients whose insurance doesn’t cover the medications, TrumpRx had a small impact on drug spending overall, experts say. It features only a small fraction of all drugs on the market.
Credit also needs to go to former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which allowed Medicare to negotiate the prices of certain costly drugs for the first time, Ballreich said.
Trump’s White House pushed back strongly in September on the idea that the Biden law had an impact. A White House spokesperson also claimed that TrumpRx had saved Americans $700 million, though the spokesperson did not respond to CNN’s query on how the administration arrived at that figure.
Trump reflects on Charlie Kirk a year since his assassination: "Young people loved him"
President Donald Trump reflected on the life of late conservative activist Charlie Kirk on the one year anniversary of his assassination.
Trump described Kirk’s assassination as a “sad cloud over the country,” musing the late activist’s ability to politically engage young people.
“Young people loved him,” Trump said. “They still do.”
Fact check: Trump's repeat claim about Americans working
For the second straight night, President Donald Trump said in his Thursday speech that “more Americans are working today than ever before.”
This is true, but Trump didn’t explain that this statistic he frequently cites is nearly meaningless; every US president since at least 1948, when modern federal data collection began, could have accurately said at some point during their tenure that more people were working in the US than ever before.
That’s because the number of people working in the US generally rises over time simply because the population rises over time. With the exception of recessions, like those caused by the financial crisis of 2008 or the Covid-19 crisis of 2020, the number of employed people tends to just get higher as the years pass.
“There are more Americans working because there are more Americans. That’s the entire analysis,” Justin Wolfers, a University of Michigan professor of public policy and economics, wrote in his newsletter in August.
Better ways to measure the labor market, like the unemployment rate, the employment-population ratio, the labor force participation rate and the pace of job creation, show that it has been far from historically strong this term.
You can read more here.
CNN’s Deja Oliver contributed reporting.
Fact check: Vance’s false claim about the media and Biden-era inflation
Vice President JD Vance mocked the media during part of his Republican convention speech on Thursday. But he made a false claim about Biden-era inflation while lampooning how the media supposedly challenged him over another false claim on that subject.
Vance said Thursday: “The president and I would go during a campaign, we’d say, ‘You know, inflation is as high as it’s been in 100 years,’ and the fake news would say, ‘No, no, no, it’s as high as it’s been in 68 years.’ That ain’t good, ladies and gentlemen.”
Mainstream journalists, at least, wouldn’t say that inflation under Biden was as high as it had been “in 68 years.” Rather, CNN and others noted that peak inflation under the Biden administration, 9.1% in June 2022, was the highest in about 40 years.
Vance is entitled to make his general point that this correction still doesn’t make Biden-era inflation sound good, but his specific number was, again, wrong. And he didn’t acknowledge that inflation fell sharply under Biden after hitting the 40-year high, declining to 2.9% in Biden’s last full month in office, December 2024, and 3.0% in January 2025, when Trump and Vance were inaugurated.
The rate was 3.4% in July 2026, the most recent month for which data is available.
Fact check: Kennedy’s false claim that Democrats closed “every church” during Covid pandemic
While attacking Democrats, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed in his Thursday convention speech that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, “they closed every church in our country for a year.”
It’s not true that every church in the country was closed for a year, nor even that every church in a Democratic state was closed for a year.
Every state issued some type of guidance or order about social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic, but many states – including some led by Democrats and some led by Republicans – incorporated religious exemptions into those limitations on social interactions.
According to a Pew Research Center analysis from April 2020, 15 states allowed religious gatherings to continue without a limit on their size. That set of states included Colorado, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which all had Democratic governors. And at least two states with Republican governors, Alaska and Idaho, were among the states that prohibited religious gatherings at least briefly.
Fact check: RFK Jr.’s claim about reversing declines in longevity
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaking of the Trump administration, claimed Thursday: “We have now reversed a 30-year decline in longevity. “
Kennedy referenced preliminary data that he said he had received from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week, but it’s unclear what metric of longevity he’s referring to.
CDC data shows that US life expectancy had been steadily increasing for decades before a sharp drop during the Covid-19 pandemic. Life expectancy had already started to rebound in 2022, under the Biden administration, and reached a new record high in 2024 before Trump’s second term began.
Preliminary data shared by the CDC in July suggests that life expectancy probably hit another record high in 2025.
CNN has reached out to HHS for clarification on Kennedy’s comments.
CNN’s Deja Oliver contributed reporting.
Trump implores Republicans to vote and "cheat like hell" in closing address
President Donald Trump closed out the GOP’s midterm convention Thursday by repeatedly pleading with its attendees to vote, urging them at one point to “cheat like hell” to help Republicans keep control of Congress.
“You’ve got to do me the biggest favor you’ve ever done me,” he said. “You’ve got to do this for me. You’ve got to pretend I’m on the ticket.”
Trump later led the crowd in an extended pledge to vote, asking them to promise to “go out with my family, my friends … I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try and cheat like hell, like they (Democrats) do.”
“You know what happens if you don’t vote?” he asked at one point. “You go to hell. You know that.”
Trump’s exhortations came amid an extended closing address that he largely used to recount his administration’s accomplishments, while describing in menacing terms how the country might fare if Democrats take back control of one or both congressional chambers. He said if Democrats take power, they would reverse his policies and “set loose criminals to rob, rape and kill like we had just two years ago.”
Trump also reiterated his promise to pay every American adult $5,000 if Republicans hold the House and Senate, despite little clear sense within his administration as to how the GOP might ultimately make good on the vow.
And despite voters’ deepening frustration with the economy and war in Iran, Trump offered no acknowledgement of the challenges that have weighed on Republicans’ electoral chances — instead congratulating himself for a nation that he argued had never been in better shape.
“I’ve delivered on every single promise I made,” Trump said. “And I think I delivered on far more.”
Fact check: RFK Jr.’s false claim about Democrats and the 2024 election
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unsuccessfully ran for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination before withdrawing to run as an independent and then eventually endorsing Republican candidate Donald Trump. In Kennedy’s Thursday convention speech, he complained of how the Democrats handled the nomination race.
At one point, he said: “For the first time in history, they canceled their own convention. No voter ever cast a primary ballot for Kamala Harris, no elected delegate was ever consulted; the party of ‘No Kings’ simply anointed a queen.”
Kennedy is entitled to express unhappiness about how quickly Democratic leaders coalesced around then Vice President Harris after President Joe Biden unexpectedly dropped out of the race in July 2024, after the primaries were over and less than four months from Election Day. But it’s not true that the party canceled its convention or that delegates didn’t get any say.
The convention was held; it was a four-day event in Chicago in August 2024. Democratic convention delegates officially nominated Harris in a virtual roll call vote in advance of the convention. It’s true that Harris was the only candidate on the roll call ballot, but that’s because she was the only candidate who gathered enough delegate signatures to appear on the ballot.
It’s clear that party elites’ backing of Harris played a key role in the unusual nomination process. But Kennedy’s specific allegations that the convention was abandoned and delegates were cut out of the process are not true.
CNN’s Deja Oliver contributed to this item
Trump urges supporters to "pretend I'm on the ticket" in midterm elections
President Donald Trump closed the Republican Party’s midterm convention Thursday by asking supporters to treat November’s elections as if he himself were on the ballot, framing the vote as pivotal even if he isn’t running for office himself.
“You gotta do me the biggest favor: pretend I’m on the ticket. I’m on the ticket,” Trump told the crowd in Dallas.
“Pretend I’m on the ticket because this is going to turn out to be one of the most important elections,” he added.
The remarks reflect one of the GOP’s key goals for the convention: turning out voters loyal to Trump who might be inclined to stay at home this November. The convention has shined a spotlight on Trump’s accomplishments, even as his approval rating stands at 35%, according to CNN’s poll of polls.
“So on Election Day, November 3, you got to do me a favor. You got to get out and vote, and you’re going to pretend I’m on the ballot because, in a way, I am on the ballot. Because if they get in, they’re going to take away all of the things that we got, and we can’t let that happen,” Trump said.
Fact check: RFK Jr.’s claim that Democrats "lost 360,000 children"
Speaking about Democrats, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in his Thursday convention speech: “They somehow lost 360,000 children and they turned our federal government into the biggest child trafficking operation in world history.”
President Donald Trump and other Republicans have made similar claims. But there’s no basis for the assertion that Democrats “lost” so many children or that the federal government was engaged in human trafficking.
A 2024 report from the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security said Immigration and Customs Enforcement had reported that more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children failed to appear as scheduled for immigration court hearings after being released or transferred out of custody between fiscal years 2019 and 2023 – a period that, notably, includes two years and four months under the first Trump administration.
The report also said that 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children during this period were not given notices to appear in court.
The report said that ICE had “no assurances” these children “are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.” But it did not say all the children were actually “lost” and did not definitively assert that any of them were trafficked – let alone that the government was somehow involved in a trafficking operation. And, again, the report spanned parts of both a Republican administration and a Democratic administration.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, told CNN in 2024: “Long story short, no, there are not 320,000 kids missing. 32,000 kids missed court. That doesn’t mean they’re missing, it means they missed court (either because their sponsor didn’t bring them or they are teenagers who didn’t want to show up). The remaining 291,000 cases mentioned by the (Office of the Inspector General) are cases where ICE hasn’t filed the paperwork to start their immigration court cases.”
Another person in crowd removed after brief confrontation
Another person in the crowd tonight has been removed after some type of confrontation.
CNN heard someone yell “bullsh*t” in the upper sections of the arena, then saw crowd members begin grabbing at a man and pulling his t-shirt, apparently trying to get him to leave the area.
A small section of the crowd broke out in chants of “hey, hey, hey goodbye” and “USA.” After a short struggle with other members of the audience, the man was pulled away from his seat and the section.
Vance touts housing bill as a win, despite Trump previously dismissing it
Vice President JD Vance promoted a bipartisan housing bill as one of the administration’s achievements during tonight’s GOP midterm convention, even though President Donald Trump himself had previously downplayed the legislation and declined to sign it.
Vance’s promotion of the housing measure came despite Trump’s own public dismissal of the bill. Previously, Trump said he would not sign the bipartisan legislation, in protest of Republicans’ inability to advance separate elections overhaul legislation.
The housing bill ultimately became law even without Trump’s signature.
GOP leaders had originally hoped to tout the moment as a historic economic achievement ahead of midterm elections likely to be defined by Americans’ concerns over the cost of living.
Vance makes direct bid to win undecided voters frustrated with Trump's presidency
Vice President JD Vance made a direct appeal to voters who have soured on the GOP over the Iran war and other issues, pleading with them not to “give the country over to a bunch of crazy people because you happen to disagree with us on a policy issue here and there.”
Vance invoked the late Charlie Kirk in his message to undecided voters, noting that the conservative activist was deeply opposed to foreign conflicts, arguing that still, Kirk never abandoned President Donald Trump even as he involved the US in wars abroad.
“What I’m asking you to do is to do what Charlie did,” he added.
Vance singles out El-Sayed over past remarks about his family
Vice President JD Vance used part of his convention speech to directly criticize Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, decrying the Democrat for a recent remark he made about Vance and his family.
In a speech last month, Vance had mused that he’d have difficulty going back in time and explaining the current Democratic Party to his late grandfather, who he called “papaw.” At one point during those remarks, he accused El-Sayed of wanting to impose Sharia law.
Tonight, Vance recounted the back-and-forth, telling attendees that “that is what he thinks of my grandfather.”
Vance went on to argue the Democratic Party had strayed far from its roots, claiming that it was now “the party of hatred.”
Crowd chants "JD 48" during Vance's address
The crowd at the Republican midterm convention chanted “JD 48” during Vice President JD Vance’s keynote speech, suggesting they want him to succeed Donald Trump as the 48th president.
“We got to take care of business this November. Then we’ll worry about what comes next,” Vance said on Thursday.
