President Donald Trump turned the closing night of the Republican midterm convention in Dallas into an unusual mass voting pledge Thursday, instructing thousands of supporters to raise their right hands and swear that they would cast ballots in the Nov. 3 elections.

The moment came as Trump made voter turnout a central focus of his closing appearance at the American Airlines Center, repeatedly urging his supporters to treat the midterms as though his own name were on the ballot. Republicans are seeking to retain control of Congress, and Trump has made mobilizing voters who typically turn out for him in presidential elections a major theme of the convention.

Trump told the audience that the stakes of the election extended to his administration’s agenda, warning that Democratic control of Congress could threaten policies enacted since he returned to the White House.

“So on election day, November 3, you’ve got to do me a favor. You’ve got to get out and vote and you’ve got to pretend I’m on the ballot because in a way I am on the ballot, because if they get in, they are going to take away all of the things that we’ve got, and we can’t let that happen.”

Trump has repeatedly employed the “pretend I’m on the ballot” message during the 2026 campaign, reflecting Republican concerns about reproducing the coalition and turnout that helped elect him in 2024 when he himself is not running.

The President then turned to election laws, repeating his longstanding calls for voter identification and proof-of-citizenship requirements while accusing Democrats of opposing such measures because they “want to cheat.”

“In many cases, look, they don’t want to give you voter I.D. Why? Because they want to cheat,” he said.

“They don’t want to give you proof of citizenship. Why? They say well it’s very complicated process. They have more lines. We want voter I.D. We want proof of citizenship. We want honesty in our elections. We want honesty in our country.”

Democrats dispute Trump’s characterization of their position and his allegations of widespread election cheating. Disagreements over proof-of-citizenship and identification requirements have become a significant partisan issue, with supporters arguing that such rules strengthen election integrity and opponents warning that some proposals could unnecessarily prevent eligible citizens from voting.

Trump then shifted into a more theatrical mode, asking the entire audience to raise their right hands and repeat a pledge after him.

“Please raise your right hand,” the President instructed.

What followed mixed a serious turnout appeal with jokes and improvisation as Trump had the crowd repeat his words.

“TRUMP: So please raise your right hand. I pledge —

“CROWD: I pledge.

“TRUMP: To the greatest president in the history of the United States —

“CROWD: To the great president in the history of the United States.

“TRUMP: That loves us so much he can’t even breathe.

“CROWD: That loves us so much he can’t even breathe.”

Trump continued by having attendees pledge to bring relatives and friends with them to vote, while joking about cheating and voting without being registered.

“TRUMP: That I will go out with my family, my friends, I’ll do it any way, I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try to cheat like hell like they do. There has never been bigger cheaters, they don’t care, I am going to go out and I’m going to get my friends and family and we are going to vote on November 3, or we are going to vote before that. Right?”

The remark about voting while unregistered was made in the context of Trump’s joking pledge; under election law, a person must satisfy the applicable registration requirements in order to cast a valid ballot.

Before finishing the pledge, Trump turned his attention to some of his longtime supporters near the front of the arena.

“Okay. Ready? Ready? Here’s — okay. Are you ready?

“Look, Front Row Joes, are you ready? The — look at them. The great ladies of north Carolina. It’s about number 300, I don’t know how the hell they do it. They are beautiful.

“Okay. Are you ready? Ready? To finish the pledge. So we swear”

The audience responded: “We swear.”

Trump then delivered the central portion of the pledge.

“That on November 3, we’re going to go out and vote and, you know what?

“If you want, you can vote Democrat, but I don’t think there is one person in this room that’s gonna vote democrat. I don’t think so. So I don’t want to waste the words vote Republican, just go out. If you vote you’re voting Republican. OK. So help me God.”

The crowd repeated: “So help me God.”

Trump appeared pleased with the volume of the response.

“Whoah. Now I know. I’d say just about everybody was screaming —”

He then added another joke aimed at making sure his supporters actually followed through in November.

“You know what happens if you don’t vote right? You go to hell, you know that. You go to hell. And I don’t want that to happen to you so please go and vote!”

The audience subsequently broke into chants of “Vote! Vote!”

The mass pledge capped two days in which Trump repeatedly sought to place himself personally at the center of the Republican turnout effort. On opening night, he similarly told supporters to act as though he were running again, saying, “I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot.”

Republicans have organized their midterm strategy around retaining their congressional majorities, while Democrats are seeking to gain control of Congress and have campaigned against the Trump administration’s record and policies.

Trump’s closing remarks followed Vice President JD Vance’s keynote address and concluded the Republican Party’s unusual two-day midterm convention, an event designed to energize the party ahead of Election Day.

The President had promised that his second-night appearance would be considerably shorter than his lengthy opening-night address. His remarks nevertheless featured an extended series of appeals for turnout, including the crowd-wide pledge.

And as the convention reached its conclusion, Trump left his supporters with the message he had emphasized throughout the gathering: whatever else Republican voters do between now and November, he wants them at the polls.