DALLAS — Thousands of demonstrators are expected to protest this week against President Donald Trump and Republican leaders who are gathering in Dallas for a midterm convention Wednesday and Thursday.

The convention at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, where Trump, Vice President JD Vance and dozens of Republican leaders are scheduled to speak, is expected to attract about 20,000 people, according to the Republican National Committee.

Demonstrators are expected to gather for a rally near the venue and others have planned a march nearby.

Dallas city leaders said local police have worked with federal agencies to coordinate security for the convention. Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, the Dallas city manager, said at a news conference that security was expected to cost about $1.8 million.

“Our goal is not to interfere with lawful expression,” Bizor Tolbert said. “Our goal is to provide an environment where people can exercise their rights safely, while protecting the rights and safety of everyone else. The same public safety expectations apply, regardless of political affiliation or individual viewpoints.”

A number of demonstrations are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Dallas. The first is an event by local faith leaders Wednesday called an “Interfaith Service of Moral Resistance” at Paul Quinn College in Dallas.

On Thursday evening, 5,000 to 10,000 people are expected to gather at Dallas City Hall for a permitted event that organizers called the We The People Rally, which will include local Democratic officials as well as leaders from civil rights and labor organizations.

The Next Generation Action Network, a civil rights organization based in North Texas that secured the permit for the rally, said people were gathering to stand up for democracy and “vulnerable communities that have felt targeted or marginalized by the policies and rhetoric of this administration.” Organizers said they expected a sizable turnout and called for peaceful demonstrations.

“This is why we’ve come together: to reject hate, to reject division, to reject political rhetoric that is formed in hate speech,” Kardal Coleman, chair of the Dallas County Democratic Party, said at a news conference last week. “We reject political violence, and so we are coming together to make sure that we have a safe gathering, a rally organized by Texans, put together by Texans.”

Separately, the Dallas Against the Trump Agenda coalition has also organized a march Thursday afternoon starting at Pike Park near the American Airlines Center. Protesters in the march will be limited in how close they can get to the venue. Fencing around the American Airlines Center went up last week, and street closures in the area were planned Tuesday through Friday.

Xavi Velasquez, a volunteer with the coalition, said Tuesday that organizers expected about 1,000 people to join the march Thursday in protest against the Trump administration.

“Trump and his policies are definitely not welcome here in Dallas,” Velasquez said.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Jesus Jiménez/Kenny Holston
c. 2026 The New York Times Company