Magical quality beginning to inspire Democrat (American) (8)
I believe the answer is:
stardust
'magical quality' is the definition.
'beginning to inspire democrat american' is the wordplay.
'beginning' becomes 'start' ('start' can be a synonym of 'beginning').
'to inspire' is an insertion indicator (breathe in).
'democrat' becomes 'd'.
'american' becomes 'us'.
'd'+'us'='dus'
'start' going around 'dus' is 'STARDUST'.
(Other definitions for stardust that I've seen before include "In Woodstock we are this" , "Singer < and song" , "Imaginary particles blinding someone to reality" , "that could blind one to reality" .)