State chief given a hearing (5)
I believe the answer is:
maine
'state' is the definition.
(Maine is an example)
'chief given a hearing' is the wordplay.
'chief' becomes 'main' (I've seen this before).
'given a hearing' shows a homophone (sound like).
'main' is a homophone of 'MAINE'.
(Other definitions for maine that I've seen before include "The USA's Pine Tree State" , "New England state" , "N. US Atlantic state" , "state of USA" , "North-east American state" .)