Democrat dealing with vital representation of party? (6)
I believe the answer is:
donkey
'representation of party?' is the definition.
(symbol of the US Democratic Party)
'democrat dealing with vital' is the wordplay.
'democrat' becomes 'd'.
'dealing with' becomes 'on'.
'vital' becomes 'key' (I've seen this before).
'd'+'on'+'key'='DONKEY'
(Other definitions for donkey that I've seen before include "Dunce" , "Nativity play animal?" , "Animal for drudge work" , "Domestic animal" , "This work is drudgery - by long-eared animal?" .)