If you talk about the US political parties, you have to use their names and adjectives about their names with a capital letter: Republican and Democrat. That’s because both words can also have a general meaning outside of US politics.
general meanings | meanings in the context of US parties | ||
---|---|---|---|
republican (noun) | a person who supports a republic as a form of government | Republican (noun) | a supporter or member of the US Republican party |
republican (adj) | something that has to do with a republic | Republican (adj) | something that has to do with the US Republican party |
democrat (noun) | a person who supports democracy | Democrat (noun) | a supporter or member of the US Democratic party |
democratic (adj) | something that has to do with the principles of democracy | Democratic (adj) | something that has to do with the US Democratic party |