Crossword Genius

Protest at college backed pitch by one committed to the house party (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

democrat

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'one committed to the house party' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'protest at college backed pitch' is the wordplay.
'protest' becomes 'demo' (I've seen this before).
'at' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'college' becomes 'c'.
'backed' says the letters should be written backwards.
'pitch' becomes 'tar' ('tar' can be a synonym of 'pitch'**).
'tar' in reverse letter order is 'rat'.
'demo'+'c'+'rat'='DEMOCRAT'

'by' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for democrat that I've seen before include "Member of one of US parties" , "Populist" , "Clinton or Obama supporter" , "One who believes in government by the whole people" , "One advocates government by the people's elected representatives" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times.
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