Charged vote for Republican in charge (8)
I believe the answer is:
electric
'charged' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'vote for republican in charge' is the wordplay.
'vote for' becomes 'elect' (I've seen this before).
'republican' becomes 'r' (abbreviation).
'in charge' becomes 'ic' (abbreviation for 'in charge').
'elect'+'r'+'ic'='ELECTRIC'
(Other definitions for electric that I've seen before include "Tense" , "Relic etc charged with current" , "Thrilling (potentially shocking?)" , "Emotionally charged" , "describing power supplies?" .)