Old Republican leader with inflated self-worth ultimately in state (6)
I believe the answer is:
oregon
'state' is the definition.
(Oregon is an example)
'old republican leader with inflated self-worth ultimately in' is the wordplay.
'leader' says to take the initial letters.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'inflated self-worth' becomes 'ego' (I've seen this in another clue).
'ultimately' says to take the final letters.
The first letters of 'old republican' is 'or'.
The final letter of 'in' is 'n'.
'or'+'ego'+'n'='OREGON'
(Other definitions for oregon that I've seen before include "State near Washington" , "The American state is no goer, strangely" , "W. coast US state" , "American state, capital Salem (6)." , "Old trail led here" .)