Crossword Genius

Political reformer running to replace Henry, a complete fraud (3,6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

con artist

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'fraud' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'political reformer running to replace henry a complete' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'running' could be 'on' (eg when a machine is running it is on) and 'on' is found in the answer.
'a' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for con artist that I've seen before include "Hustler" , "swindler" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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