Ordered a Republican to rank Democrat (8)
I believe the answer is:
arranged
'ordered' is the definition.
('arranged' can be a synonym of 'ordered')
'a republican to rank democrat' is the wordplay.
'republican' becomes 'r' (abbreviation).
'to rank' becomes 'range' ('range' can be a synonym of 'rank'**).
'democrat' becomes 'd'.
'a'+'r'+'range'+'d'='ARRANGED'
(Other definitions for arranged that I've seen before include "Ordered" , "Put in order or adapted a piece of music" , "Scored" , "Put in proper order" , "Fixed" .)