HALO HITS DALLAS: Marty O’Donnell Lands RNC Convention Speaking Slot as NV-03 Takes National Stage

Republican congressional candidate Marty O’Donnell is heading to the national stage next week, joining President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and senior Republican leaders as a featured speaker at the Republican National Committee’s first midterm convention in Dallas.

O’Donnell, the Republican nominee challenging Democrat Rep. Susie Lee in Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, appears on the preliminary speaker roster for the Sept. 9-10 gathering. The convention will feature roughly 100 Republican elected officials and candidates as the party focuses attention on races that could determine control of Congress.

For O’Donnell, the invitation represents another step in a rapid transition from the entertainment industry to one of the country’s most closely watched congressional contests.

The former video game composer, best known for his work on the “Halo” franchise, won Nevada’s Republican primary in June after receiving Trump’s endorsement and joining the NRCC’s “MAGA Majority” candidate program. He will face Lee in November in a Las Vegas-area district Reuters has identified as one of the seats that could help determine control of the House. 

His appearance also places Nevada directly inside the RNC’s broader midterm message. Trump is scheduled to deliver the keynote address on the convention’s first night and closing remarks on the second, while Vance will headline Night Two. House Speaker Mike Johnson, NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson, Sen. Tim Scott and other Republican leaders are also scheduled to speak.

The Dallas lineup is heavy on candidates running in competitive House and Senate contests, including O’Donnell, Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina, Eric Flores and Carlos De La Cruz in Texas, Jay Feely in Arizona and Mike LiPetri in New York. Axios reported that the convention is designed in large part to energize Trump voters ahead of a midterm election in which the president himself will not appear on the ballot. 

Nevada’s inclusion is unsurprising.

Lee won reelection in 2024 by nearly three percentage points even as Trump narrowly carried NV-03, illustrating the district’s willingness to split its ticket and reinforcing its status as a national battleground. Republicans currently hold a narrow House majority, making districts like Lee’s central to both parties’ November strategies. 

O’Donnell has remained closely aligned with Trump throughout the campaign. His advisers told the Associated Press last month that he had not changed his support for the president despite routine changes to campaign website imagery.

This week, that alliance will be considerably harder to miss.

A composer once known nationally for scoring battles in “Halo” will now take the microphone at the Republican Party’s midterm convention with an actual congressional battle waiting for him back in Nevada.

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