Symbolically, I vote into office Republican in charge that's up to date (8,7)
I believe the answer is:
electric current
'symbolically i' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how they can define each other.
'vote into office republican in charge that's up to date' is the wordplay.
'vote into office' becomes 'elect' (I've seen this before).
'republican' becomes 'R' (abbreviation).
'in charge' becomes 'ic' (abbreviation for 'in charge').
'that's up to date' becomes 'current' (I've seen this in another clue).
'elect'+'r'+'ic'+'current'='ELECTRIC CURRENT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for electric current that I've seen is " I".)