GOP selects Houston to host 2028 national convention

WASHINGTON — Republicans Friday chose Houston to host their 2028 national convention, hoping to cement support in Texas even as Democrats are betting that a booming Hispanic population and other key demographic shifts could eventually turn the country’s largest reliably red state blue.

“I am excited to announce Houston as the host city for the 2028 Republican National Convention,” Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. She applauded the committee’s “smart business decision” last spring to allow for selecting the site “earlier than ever.”

Houston is the United States’ fourth largest city and is among its fastest growing, with a population exceeding 2.3 million. It was for decades a Republican stronghold, the home turf of President George H.W. Bush and the site of the Republican convention that nominated him for reelection in 1992.

But the city has since become solidly Democratic, with the party sweeping every countywide seat in Harris County, which includes Houston, in 2016. Houston’s blue shift is a departure from the rest of Texas, which hasn’t supported a Democrat for president since Jimmy Carter in 1976 and where Republicans have won every statewide office since 1994 — the longest political winning streak in the nation. Still, Texas is now more than 40% Hispanic, and its strong economy has brought in many new residents from more liberal states.

Democrats are hoping to knock off Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in next year’s Senate race with a primary field that includes Rep. Colin Allred, a former NFL linebacker who was elected to a once strongly red Dallas district.

Texas nonetheless remains “the heart of the conservative movement,” Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday in a social media post. His party’s retrenching there reflects a different strategy than next year, when the GOP will hold its convention in Milwaukee, in the critical swing state of Wisconsin.

Democrats haven’t yet selected their 2028 national convention site. But the Democratic National Committee considered Houston along with New York and Atlanta before settling on Chicago for its 2024 convention.