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Republican Main Street Partnership

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Republican Main Street Partnership
Type501(c)(4)[1]
FoundedMay 1994; 32 years ago (1994-05)[citation needed]
HeadquartersWashington, D.C., U.S.
Key peopleSarah Chamberlain[2] (President, CEO)
RevenueUS$1.8 million[1] (2022)
US$416.7 thousand[1] (2022)
Websiterepublicanmainstreet.org

The Republican Main Street Partnership is a nonprofit organization initially founded to raise funds for politicians on the moderate wing of the Republican Party.[3] As of 2024, the organization has moved to the right.[4] The Republican Main Street Partnership does not advocate for legislation but offers networking and mentorship opportunities and provides a forum for discussion. The partnership affiliates with a super PAC called Defending Main Street.[5] The partnership also affiliates with the Main Street Caucus, a Republican congressional member organization that takes moderately conservative positions.[citation needed]

History

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Formation and activity

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Rep. Amo Houghton of New York was the founder and chairman emeritus of the Republican Main Street Partnership.[2]

The partnership was formed following the 1994 United States House of Representatives elections in which conservative Republicans gained the House majority for the first time in 42 years. An informal discussion group formed by representatives Nancy Johnson, Steve Gunderson, and Fred Upton later became an organized bloc intent on representing the moderate wing of the Republican Party. The partnership has described itself as a "broad alliance of conservative, governing Republicans".[2][better source needed]

In 2004, the Republican Main Street Partnership proposed changes that would have moved the Republican Party's platform regarding abortion and stem-cell research in a moderate direction.[6]

Members of Congress affiliated with the partnership have been challenged in Republican primaries by members from the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, and the Tea Party movement, among others.[7][better source needed] The partnership had a notably adversarial relationship with the fiscally conservative Club for Growth. In 2011, however, the director of the partnership stated that the two groups had "'come to an understanding'".[8]

The partnership affiliates with a super PAC called Defending Main Street.[5]

Shift to the right

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According to an article published in the New York Times in March 2024, the organization was moving to the political right. "The Republican Main Street Partnership ...directed half a million dollars...to defeat Representative Bob Good, a hard-right lawmaker from Virginia, making an unusual push to oust a sitting Republican member of Congress. The move [wa]s notable... because the candidate it [wa]s backing — John J. McGuire, a former member of the Navy SEALs and an election denier who has pledged fealty to former president Donald J. Trump and promised to bring a "biblical worldview" to Congress — bears so little resemblance to the kind of moderate Republican the Main Street Partnership was founded to support."[9]

Affiliated members

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Republican Main Street Partnership Group in the 118th United States Congress

As of September 2026, the partnership listed nine U.S. senators and all 91 members of the Main Street Caucus as being affiliated with it.[10]

U.S. senators

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Former members

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Representatives

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See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 "Republican Main Street Partnership, Full Filing - Nonprofit Explorer". December 31, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 "Who We Are". RMSP. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  3. ↑ Davis, Susan. "Meltdown On Main Street: Inside The Breakdown Of The GOP's Moderate Wing". NPR. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  4. ↑ Karni, Annie (March 15, 2024). "Mainstream G.O.P. Group to Target Bob Good as It Shifts Mission and Members". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
  5. 1 2 Jackson, Herb (June 24, 2021). "'Main Street' GOP group revamps, sets high fundraising goal". Roll Call.
  6. ↑ Kirkpatrick, David D. (August 25, 2004). "The 2004 Campaign: The Republican Agenda – Draft G.O.P. Platform Backs Bush on Security, Gay Marriage and Immigration". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Club for Growth". Club for Growth. Archived from the original on December 19, 2013. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  8. ↑ Halloran, Liz (June 16, 2011). "Republican Group Targets Its Own Party". NPR. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  9. ↑ Karni, Annie (March 15, 2024). "Mainstream G.O.P. Group to Target Bob Good as It Shifts Mission and Members". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
  10. ↑ "RMSP Congressional Members". RMSP. Retrieved January 23, 2025.
  11. ↑ Vas, Nicole (November 9, 2017). "Is there room for another GOP caucus? Main Street chairman says yes". The Hill. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
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