2026 NRA Election: Full Slate of Candidates

The 2026 National Rifle Association Board of Directors election is ramping up. 25 candidates will be selected by the membership. We have a full slate of who’s on the ballot.

Previously reported, the National Rifle Association Nominating Committee released a report recommending 30 individuals who they thought would be a good fit to serve on the BOD. Of those 30, 13 were incumbent directors. Of the board members whose terms expire in 2026, 13 were not recommended by the Nominating Committee; one went on record saying he was retiring and requested to be excluded from the ballot. Where’s that leave the rest? Who secured a spot on the ballot via petition?

There are 38 candidates on the ballot. They consist of a mixture of those nominated by the committee, new petition candidates, incumbents who ran by petition who do not come recommended by the committee, and candidates who were both selected by the committee and successfully ran by petition.

The breakdown is as follows:

• 30 candidates selected by the committee. — 13 incumbents.
• 3 candidates selected by the committee and ran via petition.
• 8 candidates ran by petition — six new and two incumbents.

The following individuals ran a successful petition campaign:

1. Robert Brown from Denver, Colorado
2. Isaac Demarest from Holland, Ohio
3. Lynn Gipson from New Athens, Illinois
4. Huey Laugesen from Colorado Springs, Colorado
5. Amy Lovato from Westfield, New Jersey (Incumbent not recommended by committee)
6. Deborah Lyman from Wallingford, Connecticut
7. Todd Vandermyde from Yorkville, Illinois
8. Eb Wilkinson from Tucson, Arizona (Incumbent not recommended by committee)

The following individuals were selected by committee and ran a successful petition campaign:

9. Robert Beckmann from Cincinnati, Ohio
10. Steven C. Schreiner from Englewood, Colorado (Incumbent director)
11. Amanda Suffecool from Wayland, Ohio (Incumbent director)

The following individuals are the remaining candidates from the Nominating Committee’s report:

12. William Bailey from Milledgeville, Georgia
13. Kenneth Bowra from Smithfield, Virginia
14. Charles Brown from Dayton, Ohio
15. Alex Carroll from Connersville, Indiana
16. Ted W. Carter from Jacksonville, Florida (Incumbent director)
17. James D’Cruz from Oakland, Florida
18. Richard Fairburn from Canton, Illinois (Incumbent director)
19. Richard Todd Figard from Wadsworth, Ohio
20. Megan Hilbish from Emporia, Kansas
21. Charles T. Hiltunen, III from Indianapolis, Indiana (Incumbent director)
22. Kyle Hupfer from Pendleton, Indiana
23. Jacqueline Janes from Mesa, Arizona
24. Jerry Kraus from Craig, Colorado
25. Randy Luth from Becker, Minnesota
26. Robert Mansell from Bullhead City, Arizona (Incumbent director)
27. Eric Metteauer from Beaumont, Texas
28. Ernest Myers from Windermere, Florida
29. James W. Porter II from Birmingham, Alabama (Incumbent director)
30. David Raney from Hillsdale, Michigan (Incumbent director)
31. Mark Robinson from Colfax, North Carolina (Incumbent director)
32. Leroy Sisco from Boerne, Texas (Incumbent director)
33. Regis Synan from Export, Pennsylvania
34. Mark Vaughan from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (Incumbent director)
35. Linda Walker from Newark, Ohio (Incumbent director)
36. James Wallace from Newburyport, Massachusetts
37. Jay Wallace from Smyrna, Georgia
38. Bruce Widner from Anderson, South Carolina (Incumbent director)

The above 38 individuals are in the pool of eligible candidates who are actively running for a spot on the NRA Board of Directors. 13 incumbents come recommended by the nominating committee. Two petition incumbents do not come recommended by the nominating committee, Amy Lovato and Eb Wilkinson  — neither of which responded to Bearing Arms’ request for comment or interview. There are 23 candidates who are fresh blood to the NRA BOD or are former directors who were not reelected in the past.

The slate does not preclude any write-in candidates that members decide to put on their ballots.

During the 2025 Board of Directors election cycle, board candidates — incumbent and otherwise — Balkanized into two distinct groups akin to political parties. Bearing Arms gave equal coverage to the Strong NRA “old guard” campaign as well as the NRA 2.0 “reformer” campaign. At the time of publication, there’s been no updates to the Strong NRA website and the NRA 2.0 website is not currently active.

Candidates that did not affiliate with one group or the other failed to get elected or reelected to the Board of Directors in the 2025 election.

It’s not yet known if there will be a similar division amongst this slate of candidates for the 2026 election. Should such divisions occur, we’ll be offering continuing coverage on the topic.

If you’re an eligible voting member of the National Rifle Association, look for your ballot in the mail starting January 2026. The 2026 Annual Meeting of Members will be in Houston, Texas, on April 18, 2026.

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