Republican Rep. Brandon Gill (TX-26) opened the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday and went straight at Democrats over cultural issues, immigration and the Biden economy. He also had a name for what he thinks comes next if Democrats get back in power: “Woke 2.0.”
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The two-day convention is the RNC’s first midterm gathering of its kind. Republicans are using the Dallas event to make their case before November, with President Donald Trump appearing both nights.
Gill started with a land acknowledgment, just not the kind usually heard at political events.
“I think it’s only appropriate that we kick this convention off properly with a land acknowledgement. I’d like to acknowledge that we stand here today in the great state of Texas and the United States of America, the ancestral homeland of great American patriots, pioneers, and explorers who put down roots, fought for freedom all over the globe, and bled and died to build the greatest civilization ever known to man.”
GOP Rep. Brandon Gill: “I think it’s only appropriate that we kicked this convention off with a land acknowledgement. I’d like to acknowledge that we stand here today in the great state of Texas in the USA, the ancestral homeland of great American Patriots, pioneers, and… pic.twitter.com/YhxyeQoHKg
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) September 9, 2026
Gill called the election “the mainstream versus the extreme” and spent the next several minutes making his case.
His targets included Democrats’ comments about the American flag, capitalism, gender, and religion. Then came one of the bigger laugh lines of the speech.
“Now we have to admit that every party has their crazies. The difference is that the Democrat Party is nominating theirs for Congress.”
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Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX): “Democrats are nominating Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, an extremist who sympathized with terrorists and who campaigned with [Hasan Piker] who says America deserved 9/11.”
“That’s extreme and deplorable.”
“Now we have to admit every party has its… pic.twitter.com/WKPrz6LgMI
— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) September 9, 2026
That line landed. Then Gill pivoted to a bigger target.
Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) supplied Gill with another opening.
Ocasio-Cortez said “Woke 1 was crazy” in an August interview while distancing herself from some of the progressive politics of the first Trump era. She also declined to rule out a presidential run in 2028.
Gill had his answer.
“Well, AOC, you were finally right about one thing: Woke One was crazy, and we’re not going to let you get your hands on Woke Two.”
BRANDON GILL: “MAINSTREAM VS. EXTREME”@RepBrandonGill hammers Democrats over James Talarico, AOC, Abdul El-Sayed, and the party’s radical agenda.
“AOC, you were finally right about one thing. Woke one was crazy, and we’re not going to let you get your hands on woke two.” pic.twitter.com/nNvB0gDlJa
— Real America’s Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) September 9, 2026
Gill then moved to the Biden economy and the border.
He said inflation “hit nine percent” while Biden was president, and that checks out. The Consumer Price Index increased 9.1 percent during the 12 months ending in June 2022, the largest 12-month increase since November 1981, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Gill previewed that part of the speech on X the night before, tying Democrats’ current affordability message to the Biden years.
Democrats who now want to take up the mantle of affordability were all complicit in the Biden-era economic policies that sent inflation to 9% and open border policies that flooded our nation with millions of low wage migrants. If given the chance, it’s exactly what they’ll do…
— Brandon Gill (@realBrandonGill) September 9, 2026
“Democrats who now want to take up the mantle of affordability were all complicit in the Biden-era economic policies that sent inflation to nine percent and open border policies that flooded our nation with millions of low wage migrants. If given the chance, it’s exactly what they’ll do again.”
Gill finished by going back through the same issues: inflation, the border, and “woke insanity.”
“We will not go back to Democrats’ woke insanity. We will not go back to divisive racialized politics. We will not go back to nine percent Biden inflation, and we absolutely will not go back to open borders.”
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