Gathers republican friends (7)
I believe the answer is:
rallies
'gathers' is the definition.
(rallying is a kind of gathering)
'republican friends' is the wordplay.
'republican' becomes 'R' (abbreviation in US politics).
'friends' becomes 'allies' ('ally' can be a synonym of 'friend').
'r'+'allies'='RALLIES'
(Other definitions for rallies that I've seen before include "Car races on public roads" , "Extended exchanges of tennis strokes" , "Gets better" , "Recovers strength after illness, or mass meetings" , "Recovers strength for mass gatherings" .)