Republican meets friends at these major gatherings (7)
I believe the answer is:
rallies
'gatherings' is the definition.
(rally is a kind of gathering)
'republican meets friends' is the wordplay.
'republican' becomes 'R' (political abbreviation).
'meets' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'friends' becomes 'allies' ('ally' can be a synonym of 'friend').
'r'+'allies'='RALLIES'
'at these major' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rallies that I've seen before include "series of strokes" , "Recovers strength after illness, or mass meetings" , "court exchanges?" , "Recovers in health" , "Mobilizes" .)