Hesitation over doctor in Republican party providing candy? (7)
I believe the answer is:
gumdrop
'candy?' is the definition.
(I know that Gumdrop is a type of candy)
'hesitation over doctor in republican party' is the wordplay.
'hesitation' becomes 'um' (um is said in hesitation).
'over' says to put letters next to each other (in a down clue, some letters go over others).
'doctor' becomes 'dr' (abbreviation).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'republican party' becomes 'GOP' (the Grand Old Party, nickname for US Republicans).
'um'+'dr'='umdr'
'umdr' going inside 'gop' is 'GUMDROP'.
'providing' is the link.
(Other definitions for gumdrop that I've seen before include "chew" , "Gelatinous type of sweet" , "Small sweet (goody goody!)" , "Firm jelly sweet" , "Fungus attacking wood" .)