Republican instead of Democrat returned - fix! (6)
I believe the answer is:
repair
'fix' is the definition.
(to fix something is to repair it)
'republican instead of democrat returned' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'republican' could be 'rep' and 'rep' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'air' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for repair that I've seen before include "Mend, put right" , "Make good again" , "Restore (something) to good condition" , "Go - fix" , "Get back into good shape" .)