Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, predicted Wednesday that a handful of Democrats will end up voting for President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, but only if Republicans stick together and deliver a majority first.
“I think that we can’t count on any Democrats until we get the 50 votes we need, and then we’ll get five or six of them,” Grassley said on Fox News. “Otherwise, I don’t think we can count on them.”
With Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., out battling brain cancer, Republicans hold a slim 50-49 majority. For each Republican who votes “no,” Republicans will need to find a Democratic “yes” vote to confirm Kavanaugh.
Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, are seen as possible “no” votes, but Grassley predicted they would ultimately support Kavanaugh.
“There would have to be something very dramatically go wrong for Susan Collins and Murkowski not to vote for this candidate, as highly qualified as he is,” he said.
Grassley chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, and met with Kavanaugh on Tuesday but has yet to set a date for Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing. He said he had a “casual” talk with Kavanaugh this week, and will ask him more detailed questions at the hearing.
Republicans are looking to confirm Kavanaugh in the coming weeks and months in order to ensure he’s seated at the start of the Supreme Court’s new term on Oct. 1.
