Blaine faction

The Blaine faction, also known as the Blaine section, was a political organization of Republicans in the United States during the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes who coalesced around Maine U.S. senator James G. Blaine. Forming a coalition with the conservative Stalwart wing during the era, they opposed civil service reform, as well as the conciliatory actions of the Hayes administration towards the South. Blaine himself would vote with Stalwarts in opposition to President Hayes' reform efforts, siding with Conkling's faction in December 1877 when voting against the nomination of Theodore Roosevelt Sr., to become New York Custom of Collectors.

The faction in the context of the Hayes years is often erroneously attributed as the congressional "Half-Breeds", a moderate wing of the Republican Party which advocated civil service reform. According to Richard E. Welch Jr., Blaine was not a Half-Breed during this time, instead taking part as a dissident member of the Stalwarts. Half-Breeds trusted neither Blaine or Grant, preferring a "third man" for president in the 1880 United States presidential election who was a loyal advocate of civil service reform. According to Allan Peskin, Blaine never referred to his allies as "Half-Breeds", instead preferring the term "the Blaine Section".

The ambiguity between the Blaine faction and Half-Breeds regarding most of the Hayes presidency years is a revisionist historical inaccuracy that ignores the sharp contrasts between the groups; Blaine sharply came at odds with Hayes after 1877, and a mutual bitter antipathy was held between him and Half-Breed leader John Sherman that lasted for over a decade.

Blaine's chief allies during the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes were William P. Frye and Eugene Hale, both of whom later served in the United States Senate from Maine as colleagues.