Convention organizers were rushing to fill seats on day one of Trump-a-palooza in Dallas, barely an hour before the president was set to speak.
Attendees walking the halls of the American Airlines Center witnessed at least one person in a neon floor operations baseball cap repeatedly encouraging those around him to go sit in Section 108.
He could be heard yelling that there were seats available to anyone who didn’t have a seat.
The section was one of the areas closest to the convention floor on the first level and had mostly filled in compared to the sections in the upper levels, but there were still multiple seats available, hours into the convention program.
“We have open seats in 108,” he could be heard still begging the many people congregating in the halls and walking by 15 minutes later.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Republican National Convention for comment on the top sections being largely empty and there being available seats throughout the arena. The Daily Beast also asked if people didn’t show up or if the term “sold out” was inaccurate.
Just days after Trump declared the Republican midterm convention sold out, MAGA organizers were giving out seats for the event for free after previously charging thousands depending on the access level to attend the two-day event.
While the floor of the convention was largely filled with attendees in folding chairs, many of the sections beyond the floor were slow to fill with seats still available on the lower level and entire rows open up above nearly four hours into the event.
Multiple lawmakers opted not to attend the Texas gathering and instead campaign in their districts. There was frustration about the high cost to participate and concerns over aligning so closely with the president so close to the midterms as his approval remains deeply underwater.
The top section of the arena was almost entirely empty right before the president was set to give the keynote address.
House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed on conservative cable channel Newsmax that every seat was filled all the way up to the “rafters.” It was simply not the case.
The day before the convention, Trump tried to hype the convention on Truth Social, declaring, “hot!” and “totally sold out.”
“Everybody wants to be there, but we’re really asking only those Candidates that are in tight Races, a little up, a little down, or even, to speak,” he also claimed in his post.
Just two days before the gathering the Republican National Convention blasted out a text promoting “FREE TICKETS” in a final push to fill the more than 20,000-seat venue.
