Candidate's party has money (9)
I believe the answer is:
contender
'candidate's' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'party has money' is the wordplay.
'party' becomes 'con' (abbreviation for Conservative Party).
'has' says to put letters next to each other.
'money' becomes 'tender' (I've seen this before).
'con'+'tender'='CONTENDER'
(Other definitions for contender that I've seen before include "Trend once (anag.)" , "One striving" , "Struggler in rivalry" , "One struggling" , "Competitor, challenger" .)