Children's author stood by certain people (7)
I believe the answer is:
ransome
'children's author' is the definition.
(Swallows and Amazons author Arthur Ransome)
'stood by certain people' is the wordplay.
'stood' becomes 'ran' (both can mean ran for office).
'by certain people' becomes 'some' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'ran'+'some'='RANSOME'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ransome that I've seen before include "Arthur --, English children's author" , "British writer" , "Author of the Swallows and Amazons books, d. 1967" , "Arthur -, Swallows and Amazons author" , "A children's writer" .)