Abandon desire to follow Democrat (5)
I believe the answer is:
ditch
'abandon' is the definition.
(ditching is a kind of abandoning)
'desire to follow democrat' is the wordplay.
'desire' becomes 'itch' (itch is a kind of desire).
'to follow' means one lot of letters go next to another (some letters go after or follow others).
'democrat' becomes 'd'.
'itch' put after 'd' is 'DITCH'.
(Other definitions for ditch that I've seen before include "Dyke" , "give up" , "Land in water" , "Narrow channel" , "Boundary trench" .)