Abandon urge to follow Democrat (5)
I believe the answer is:
ditch
'abandon' is the definition.
(ditching is a kind of abandoning)
'urge to follow democrat' is the wordplay.
'urge' becomes 'itch' (I've seen this before).
'to follow' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'democrat' becomes 'd'.
'itch' put after 'd' is 'DITCH'.
(Other definitions for ditch that I've seen before include "Get rid of; dug channel" , "Trench, dike" , "Drainage channel" , "Jettison" , "long depression" .)