Current Republican in hot water? (6)
I believe the answer is:
stream
'current' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'republican in hot water?' is the wordplay.
'republican' becomes 'R' (political abbreviation).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'hot water?' becomes 'steam' (evaporated water).
'r' placed into 'steam' is 'STREAM'.
(Other definitions for stream that I've seen before include "Small watercourse" , "Small narrow flow" , "Transmit music or video online" , "Constant flow of liquid" , "Small narrow river" .)