National Federation of Republican Assemblies

National Federation of Republican Assemblies

Abbreviation	NFRA
Motto	"The Republican Wing of the Republican Party"
Formation	1935 (California); 1996 (National)
Legal status	527
President	Willes K. Lee (2016 – )
Executive Vice President	Ken Blackwell (2011 – )
National Advisory Board Chairman	Rod D. Martin (2013 – )
Website	RepublicanAssemblies.org

The National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA) is a grassroots political organization which promotes conservative principles and candidates within the Republican Party. Members at the local, state and national levels work to recruit and elect Republican candidates who reflect the Party’s conservative philosophy, and to oppose "RINOs" (Republicans In Name Only), leaders and candidates who take positions to the left of the party's conservative mainstream.

The first Republican Assembly was founded in 1934 in California. The Republican Assembly movement grew primarily in the western part of the United States until, in 1996, the several state Republican Assemblies formalized their relationship to one another through the creation of the NFRA, which was also tasked with the establishment of state chapters in those parts of the country to which the movement had not yet spread.

Republican Assemblies have three main purposes: to recruit activists into the Republican Party, to elect conservative leadership to party offices, and to endorse and work for the nomination of conservative candidates in party primaries. The Republican Assembly movement views itself as a reform movement within the Republican Party, and opposes the creation of one or more third parties, which it believes would split the conservative vote and result in the election of more Democrats. Ronald Reagan called the Republican Assemblies "the conscience of the Republican Party," while others have called them "the Tea Party before there was a Tea Party."

A central aspect of the NFRA's mission is the endorsement of candidates in contested Republican primaries, something most Republican support groups and committees choose not to do. NFRA endorsing conventions are held at the local and state levels, and a Presidential Preference Convention is held at the national level. Candidates must win two-thirds of the votes cast at a convention to secure its endorsement. Endorsements are upwardly binding: a local or state chapter's endorsement automatically secures the endorsement of the higher levels of the organization.

In 2012, the NFRA's Presidential Preference Convention endorsed Rick Santorum for President on the fifth ballot. In 2016, it endorsed Senator Ted Cruz.

The NFRA is governed by a Board of Directors composed of its officers and three national directors from each state, one of which is the state's president. Unlike the Republican National Committee, there is no gender requirement for any office. National officers are elected for two year terms at the organization's bi-annual convention.