Since April 14, five Congressional District conventions and the Young Republican convention have been held to endorse candidates for US Congress and listen to candidates for state-wide office.
Several of them also conducted straw polls of the Governor candidates. These are polls that are taken of the delegates at these conventions and may not represent the preferences of Republican voters in their districts. However, they show how the activists in these districts are leaning. Here are the results of four of these straw polls:
| CD 3 | CD 1 | CD 2 | CD 4 | CD 5 | |
| April 14 2018 | April 21 2018 | April 21 2018 | April 21 2018 | April 21 2018 | |
| Candidate | % | % | % | % | % |
| Jeff Johnson | 47% | 38% | 34% | 34% | 46% |
| Tim Pawlenty | 18% | 23% | 33% | 27% | 27% |
| Keith Downey | 9% | ||||
| Mary Giuliani Stephens | 13% | 22% | 13% | 21% | 23% |
| Phillip Parrish | 8% | 17% | 11% | 3% | 4% |
| Lance Johnson | 1% | 1% | 0% | 1% | 0% |
| Undecided/Blank | 4% | 1% | 8% | 1% | 0% |
| Total Votes | 191 | 277 | 232 | 187 | 94 |
A straw poll was not conducted at the Young Republican convention.
Keith Downey announced his withdrawal from consideration for the Republican endorsement on April 18.