2026 NRA Board Endorsements

Uncategorized

It Is Time To Vote (Updated)

January 30, 2026 by 12 Comments

Ballots arrived for both the Complementary Spouse and myself while I was in Las Vegas at the SHOT Show. Now it is time to fill them out and get them in the mail. All ballots must be received – not merely postmarked – by March 29, 2026. You have two months to get them in but I wouldn’t wait.

While you are allowed to vote for up to 29 candidates, I went with the 13 I had endorsed earlier. There are others on the ballot who are certainly deserving of your vote and very few who aren’t. I should emphasize that if you vote for more than 29 candidates, your ballot will become void. This is true even though 35 candidates will win seats of varying length.

You can see my completed ballot below:

Now to the next matter. A friend noticed this poll on AR15.com. It was asking what people intended to do with their NRA ballots. Sadly, only little more than a third said they were going to fill them out and submit them. An equal number said they planned to trash them. I know it is Arfcom which is not always a good indicator.

All I would ask is that if you are a voting member that you would study the biographies, see other endorsements like those from known reformers such as Jeff Knox and Tim Knight, make an informed decision, and vote. The NRA Board of Directors is one of the very few boards that is democratically elected. Without your participation, it would be easy to slip back to the old ways.

UPDATE: Just a reminder that there are five or so ballots with the order of the candidates different in each. Your ballot may be different than my ballot.

UPDATE II: Here are two more candidates deserving of your support if you have not already mailed your ballot. First, Mark Vaughan of Oklahoma City, OK. He is currently serving as the 1st VP and doing an excellent job. I didn’t include him in my list of endorsees as I saw his re-election as a given. I wanted to give a push to other candidates that needed that extra push. I would have hated to see someone like a Charlie Hiltunen have to run as the 76th Director like he did last year or a Jim Porter only get a one-year term.

Second, consider writing in Charles Rowe of Wadsworth, Ohio on your ballots. Jeff Knox has written about him. Chuck has done yeoman’s work with the competition rules committees helping to rewrite and rationalize the rules. It is not my bailiwick but I’m glad someone extremely competent has taken the ball and run with it.

Uncategorized

NRA Ballots Are Arriving

January 21, 2026 by 2 Comments

While I expected ballots for the 2026 NRA Board of Directors election to start arriving next week, posts on Facebook seem to indicate that they have now started to arrive.

Here are the links to my endorsements which give more detail on each candidate.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

My endorsements are a combination of old and new. The common denominator is that all are committed to reform. As I have said earlier, I am suggesting a bullet vote such that these candidates win 3-year terms. Given the number of open seats, almost everyone on the ballot will end up winning a seat.

In alphabetical order:

  • Rob Beckman
  • Charles Brown
  • James D’Cruz
  • R. Todd Figard
  • Charlie Hiltunen
  • Jacqueline Janes
  • Huey Laugesen
  • Randy Luth
  • Jim Porter
  • David Raney
  • Amanda Suffecool
  • Todd Vandermyde
  • Bruce Widener
Uncategorized

2026 NRA Board Endorsements, Part 3

January 17, 2026 by 1 Comment

This will be my third and final round of endorsements. I know I have left many good people off the list. However, as things stand as of today, a total of 35 candidates will be elected out of a pool of 37. My last post regarding the most recent resignations breaks it down. My goal is only endorsing a total of 13 candidates is to see these 13 win three-year terms. My earlier endorsements are here and here.

My final five are in alphabetical order Charles Brown, R. Todd Figard, Jim Porter, David Raney, and Bruce Widener. They are all on the ballot by nomination and all five are part of the ElectANewNRA team.

Charles Brown

Charlie is the owner of MKS Supply which distributes Hi-Point and Inland Firearms. While he has passed the day to day operations of the company to the next generation, his expertise in management and experience in the firearms industry would be a distinctive asset to the NRA. He was part of the NRA 2.0 ticket in 2025 as a write-in candidate. He was forced to run as a write-in and not as a petition candidate due to back to back hurricanes. While he had enough signatures to make the ballot, they did not arrive in time and the bylaws provided absolutely no leeway.

Richard Todd Figard

Todd is now on the Board filling a position left empty by one of the many Old Guard resignations. He was a petition candidate in the 2025 race on the ElectANewNRA team and is again running as a reformer in 2026. He is a quality engineer by training with decades of experience. He is a competitor, a trainer, RSO, and serves as the Lead Firearms Inspector (for safety) at both the NRA Annual Meeting and the Great American Outdoor Show.

In terms of committee service, Todd has stepped up. He is on Clubs & Associations, Gun Collectors, Youth, Programs, Education & Training, and Pistol. From my conservations with Todd both before and during the recent NRA board meeting, I think Todd will be a work horse and not a show horse. That is exactly what the board needs going forward.

Jim Porter

Jim chairs the Legal Affairs Committee, is a past NRA president, and is a trustee of the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund. Jim broke with the Old Guard over the shenanigans of Bill Brewer and lost his chairmanship as a result. His motion on the agenda in the Spring 2024 was what paved the way for the reformers to take charge even if they lost the presidency.

I had a long conversation with Jim over dinner at the recent NRA Winter Board Meeting. It made clear that his split with Wayne and the Old Guard cost him many old friends which pains him to this day. Among other things I learned about Jim was that he actually played football for Alabama when Bear Bryant was their head coach. Of course, I had to inform Jim that my alma mater, Guilford College, was responsible for Bear Bryant’s first win as a head coach when at the University of Maryland. My bottom line is that I have an immense amount of respect for Jim Porter and think we need his knowledge and institutional memory of the Board as we go forward.

David Raney

David is a history professor at Hillsdale College. His specialties are American history and the Second Amendment. David actually interned with NRA-ILA while in college. He serves with me on the Legislative Policy Committee and is a voice for transparency. His other committee are Ethics for which he is well suited and NRA Media.

In the NRA Board meetings we sit by alphabetical order (like elementary school kids). David is my seatmate. He has always impressed me as a voice of reason full of quiet intelligence with a good bit of humor thrown in.

Bruce Widener

Bruce is what I consider a work horse on the Board. He has put his head down and gotten to work. He isn’t flashy but does bring a depth of experience to the Board. He has served as both a legislative lobbyist and as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives. I would hope that in the future he might serve on the Legislative Policy Committee. He is a hunter both here and in Africa and is an advocate for bringing women into the shooting sports. Indeed, he is the only man serving the NRA’s Women’s Programs Committee.

Bruce also serves on the Executive Committee and had his run-ins with the Old Guard. As he says on his ElectANewNRA bio, he proudly supported the Patriots (i.e. reformers) taking over the NRA.

Uncategorized

2026 NRA Board Endorsements, Part 2

January 6, 2026 by 7 Comments

There are good people on the Board running for re-election and there are newcomers who need to be on the Board. This set of endorsements features two of each. The incumbents are Charlie Hiltuenen and Amanda Suffecool while the two newcomers are Huey Laugesen and Randy Luth.

Given the recent resignations from the Board, I have no doubt that they will be elected but I think it is important that they get three year terms. This will assure some continuity on the Board as we go forward with the necessary reforms.

Charlie Hiltunen

Charlie won the 76th Director spot in 2025 and most certainly needs to win a 3-year term. He is the chair of the Legislative Policy Committee and you could not ask for a better chair for that committee. His experience as a lawyer, lobbyist, and legislative counsel for over 40 years brings a lot to the table in that committee and serves as a valuable counterpoint to staff. More importantly, he is committed to reform. He provides answers to a lot of top questions on his campaign’s FAQ page. In addition to the NRA Board, Charlie is the president of the Indiana State Rifle & Pistol Association.

Charlie is a Hoosier by both education and upbringing. He brings that midwestern sensibility to what he does on the Board and in his professional life. I am proud to endorse him for a 3-year term on the Board of Directors.

Huey Laugesen

Huey is the Executive Director of the Colorado Shooting Sports Association. He is on the ballot by petition and I was happy to support his petition drive.

I serve on the Membership Committee with Huey and I am convinced he is someone who needs to be on the Board for a variety of reasons. First, he has successfully increased the membership of the CSSA by 170% in the last two years. His use of targeted mailings in that state should be used as a guide by the NRA.

Second, Huey is on the frontlines in the battle for the Second Amendment in Colorado. That state is a prime example of how a state can go from good to bad in a short time. His organization along with the Mountain States Legal Foundation is fighting back against Colorado’s permit to purchase scheme with a lawsuit in Federal court.

Finally, Huey brings youth to the Board and will help us find ways to attract Millennials and Gen Z’ers to the NRA. That said, Colorado State Representative Ava Flanell who I met at the Gun Rights Policy Conference said of Huey that he was “an old soul.” By that, she meant he was wise beyond his years.

Randy Luth

Randy has been in the firearms industry for a long time. He founded and then sold DPMS Panther Arms. He later started Luth-AR which is the current company he heads. The Nominating Committee set their priorities which included those from the firearms industry, those involved in competition, and those with financial experience. Randy brings those to the table in spades!

More importantly, Randy has been committed to NRA reform for a long time. He was one of the first in the firearms industry to call out publicly the grifting of Wayne and his cronies. He also called for new leadership and urged the firearms industry to withhold financial contributions until such time as it came about.

The bottom line is that Randy stood up when few in his position would. For that and many other reasons, Randy has my vote.

Amanda Suffecool

I was first introduced to Amanda at the SHOT Show in the mid 20-teens and we have been friends ever since. She and I were for a long time co-hosts of the Polite Society Podcast until Paul Lathrop decided to bring it to a close. I have appeared on her nationally syndicated Eye on the Target Radio show a number of times.

Amanda is currently chair of the NRA Media Committee which was the merger of the former Publications and Public Affairs Committee. However, she is much more than that. She is an engineer, a trainer, an activist, a shooter, and a fashionista. She worked as a manufacturing and quality engineer with multiple industrial companies until her retirement. Amanda is certified in multiple NRA training areas. As an activist, she has been a leader in Women for Gun Rights aka The DC Project as well as chair of the Portage County (Ohio) GOP party. She was a delegate to the 2024 RNC Convention. Oh, and that fashionista thing, if you haven’t been to one of her concealed carry fashion shows, you are missing out.

In 2023 when Amanda first ran and was elected to the NRA Board of Directors, I did not endorse her. It was a strategic thing as I felt an endorsement would hurt her chances of being elected given my outspoken criticism of the NRA. Indeed, I made no endorsements that year but I did vote for her. This year I am very happy to give Amanda my endorsement for another 3-year term. She, like Rob Beckman, is double nominated and that is a credit to her for seeking nomination both ways.