A Democrat calling for confession (9)
I believe the answer is:
admission
'confession' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a democrat calling' is the wordplay.
'democrat' becomes 'd'.
'calling' becomes 'mission' (calling can mean a mission or vocation in life).
'a'+'d'+'mission'='ADMISSION'
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for admission that I've seen before include "Right to go in" , "Acknowledgment of crime" , "Anything conceded" , "Acknowledgment of the truth of something" , "for which one may be charged" .)