Eccentric strove with the electorate (6)
I believe the answer is:
voters
'electorate' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'eccentric strove' is the wordplay.
'eccentric' indicates anagramming the letters.
'strove' with letters rearranged gives 'VOTERS'.
'with the' is the link.
(Other definitions for voters that I've seen before include "Electors" , "They cast ballots" , "Selectors" .)