Marty O’Donnell is slated to address the Republican National Committee’s 2026 Convention in Texas this week.
The award-winning composer will be the only one of four candidates in the Nevada Republican congressional slate to speak at the two-day RNC event that President Donald Trump will headline Wednesday and Thursday.
Organizers originally considered Las Vegas as a possible convention site before settling for an arena in Dallas, the Wall Street Journal previously reported. The major parties regularly hold similar conventions in the run-up to presidential elections, making the midterm affair atypical.
O’Donnell — who made his career composing music for video games, including the popular Halo franchise — is challenging incumbent Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev.
“As the lone Nevadan on the program, Marty is honored to speak at the RNC Convention on Thursday,” campaign representative Keith Schipper, wrote in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “He will be talking about how Susie Lee created our affordability crisis, refused to apologize for it, and how he will work to finish more of the Trump agenda so every family can get ahead on one good job.”
The event is designed to help boost Republicans’ chances of maintaining control of the House and Senate after Election Day, when the party in power tends to lose seats. Lee’s campaign did not comment on O’Donnell’s scheduled speech, but the state’s Democratic Party did.
Nevada State Democratic Party spokesperson Asaf Grofman tagged the Republican as a California millionaire who supports Trump’s “reckless tariff taxes and forever wars.”
“Nevadans need a representative who shows up and fights to lower costs for them, not a wannabe celebrity who is more interested in winning the approval of the President who is making their lives harder and more expensive,” Grofman said.
The RNC said the convention seeks to draw a contrast between Republicans’ approach to affordability, security and safety compared with what it described as Democrats’ “liberal and extreme alternative.”
More than 100 Republicans were scheduled to speak, including Vice President JD Vance and candidates from battleground states, according to the party.
“The midterm election is about the future of our country,” wrote RNC Chair Joe Gruters in a statement. “President Donald Trump and Republicans are fighting to launch the golden age of America while extreme liberal Democrats want to tear this country apart and create a liberal failed state with their out-of-touch and anti-American views.”
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.
