Rode away from terminal, soon to enter office (5)
I believe the answer is:
elect
'soon to enter office' is the definition.
(eg a president-elect is yet to take office)
'rode away from terminal' is the wordplay.
'away from' suggests deleting specific letters.
'terminal' becomes 'electrode'.
'electrode' with 'rode' taken away is 'ELECT'.
(Other definitions for elect that I've seen before include "Choose by vote" , "Return" , "Put into power through the ballot box" , "Chosen, singled out" , "Chosen - to vote" .)