Crossword Genius

Appealed to court about leaflet putting Democrat last (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

attracted

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'appealed to' is the definition.
('attract' can be a synonym of 'appeal to')

'court about leaflet putting democrat last' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'court' could be 'ct' and 'ct' is found within the answer.
'about' could be 'a' (abbreviation in Chambers) and 'a' is found in the answer.
'democrat' could be 'd' and 'd' is located in the answer.
'last' could be 't' (I've seen this in other clues) and 't' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for attracted that I've seen before include "Drew to, magnatized" , "Allured, magnetized" , "Drew towards" , "Acted like a magnet (90" , "Pulled" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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