Republican into drink sure finds wealth (8)
I believe the answer is:
treasure
'wealth' is the definition.
(I know that treasure is a type of wealth)
'republican into drink sure' is the wordplay.
'republican' becomes 'R' (abbreviation in US politics).
'into' indicates putting letters inside.
'drink' becomes 'tea' (tea is a drink).
'r' going inside 'tea' is 'trea'.
'trea'+'sure'='TREASURE'
'finds' is the link.
(Other definitions for treasure that I've seen before include "Highly-prized possession" , "Highly valued possession" , "Valuable hoard" , "R L Stevenson's island" , "Hoard of jewels and money" .)