A motion to disendorse federal Nationals MP Darren Chester by the party's local branch at Sale, east of Melbourne, has been decisively defeated after months of debate.

Mr Chester was targeted by a small church-based splinter group within the branch for his support for a free vote on same-sex marriage in the Parliament and his commitment to vote for marriage equality if a free vote was granted.

At Thursday night's branch meeting, members voted against the motion to withdraw Mr Chester's endorsement 23 votes to two.

The motion was moved by Leigh Marchant and seconded by Patrick McIvor, president of the Nationals' Gippsland District Council, at a previous meeting but neither were there last night.

Mr McIvor declined to comment.

The motion came after a series of articles published in the Sale newspaper, the Gippsland Times, in which Mr McIvor questioned Mr Chester's change of heart on the marriage equality issue.

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In the article Mr McIvor said Mr Chester was opposed to same-sex marriage when he was endorsed as the local candidate and when he went to the 2013 election.

National Party state director Jenny Hammett said the vote and a subsequent motion demonstrated the opposition to Mr Chester's stand was from a small but vocal group who felt strongly about the issue.

"All this noise has come out of the Sale branch," she said.

"If you look across Gippsland, Gippsland's a broad electorate, we haven't had this experience anywhere else.

"Everybody's been incredibly supportive of Darren and the work that he does.

"The Sale branch also moved last night to refute recent reports from unnamed sources who criticised Mr Chester by the unanimous adoption of a motion recording full support."

Mr Chester said he believed the criticism of his view on marriage equality was unfounded and he hoped the resounding defeat of the disendorsement motion would clear the air.

"In the lead-up to the 2013 election I made very public statements, and those statements are still on my website, where I indicated I was actively considering the issue and seeking consultation and the views of Gippslanders as I went through that process," Mr Chester said.

"Over the past two years I've spoken to many, many people.

"I've spoken to church leaders and to individuals who are for and against the issue.

"It's one of those difficult policy areas where you're never going to please everyone and I accept and respect that people have different views on this issue, but I had to make a decision and eventually I came down on the side of supporting a free vote and to vote yes if given that opportunity.

"Last night's vote was a resounding endorsement of my continued candidacy of the Nationals into the future and I've always enjoyed very strong support by local grass-roots members."