Key Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have yet to indicate whether they will vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh days after his raucous confirmation hearing concluded last week.
Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said they remain undecided as Kavanaugh this week works to answer follow-up questions from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he spent hours answering questions from lawmakers amid shouts from protesters who infiltrated the committee room.
“I am still working through my process,” Murkowski said when asked about her decision on Kavanaugh.
Collins has also stayed quiet, and aides wouldn’t say whether she might announce a decision when the Senate returns on Wednesday, or sometime later.
[Related: Brett Kavanaugh offers praise of ‘trailblazing’ women as Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski decide fate]
A group of moderate Democrats up for re-election has also said nothing, despite growing pressure from outside groups both for and against the nominee.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who voted for Gorsuch but is undecided on Kavanaugh, told the Washington Examiner the need to keep pre-existing conditions covered by Obamacare insurers would help him decide.
In a new campaign ad, Manchin shoots at a copy of a lawsuit supported by his opponent, Patrick Morrisey, that would let insurers drop pre-existing condition coverage. Kavanaugh opponents fear he will side with Morrisey if the lawsuit makes it to the high court.
Still, Manchin told CNN last week he had not “seen anything” during Kavanaugh’s hearing that would disqualify him for the Supreme Court, giving hope to Kavanaugh’s supporters.
Manchin is one of three Democrats who voted for Justice Neil Gorsuch, along with Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana. All three are facing tough re-election battles in November in states that went double digits for President Trump in 2016.
Pro and anti-Kavanaugh groups are targeting these lawmakers, who risk losing significant support from voters no matter what they decide.
Groups opposed to the nominee are spending millions on ads warning that Kavanaugh would vote against the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion, or the Obamacare requirement that insurers cover pre-existing conditions.
“Tell Sen. Donnelly to keep fighting for people with pre-existing conditions,” a Demand Justice ad declared in a message the group uses to target all three lawmakers. “Vote no on Brett Kavanaugh.”
But one of the moderate Democrats who might vote for Kavanaugh revealed a decision on Monday.
One Democrat, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, announced her opposition on Facebook. “While much of Judge Kavanaugh’s record remains a mystery, what we do know is extremely troubling and dangerously out of step with the American people, particularly on critical issues including executive power, abortion rights, and pre-existing conditions,” Shaheen said.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 20 is expected to vote to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Senate floor. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Kavanaugh would be considered on the Senate floor by the end of the month.
Collins and Murkowski, two moderate pro-choice lawmakers, are considered the only at-risk GOP votes when it comes to confirming Kavanaugh, who has been widely praised by the party as an extremely well-qualified and mainstream candidate to replace now-retired Justice Anthony Kennedy.
While neither has signaled their vote in favor of Kavanaugh might be in doubt, they are under considerable pressure from outside groups who oppose the nominee.
In addition to advertisements targeting the lawmakers, progressive activists have sent thousands of coat hangers to Collins to try to pressure her to vote against Kavanaugh, who they believe would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Murkowski, meanwhile, is under pressure not only from abortion rights groups but also native Alaskans who fear Kavanaugh may rule against environmental laws and would not favor the rights of minority voters.
Groups of Alaskans who oppose Kavanaugh made a 12-hour trip to D.C. to meet with Murkowski and hold rallies opposing Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
A group of Native Americans who helped Murkowski win a write-in campaign years ago also weighed in against Kavanaugh.
“We are concerned moving his nomination forward due to his unsound views and potential injury that his misperceptions would wreak upon your Native Alaskan constituents, our Native Hawaiian friends and fellow indigenous peoples,” Richard Peterson, the president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, wrote to Murkowski Friday.
Republicans can only afford one GOP defection. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., filled a vacancy left by the death of fellow Republican John McCain, which gives the party a 51-49 advantage in the Senate. If one Republican votes “no” along with every Democrat, Vice President Mike Pence could still be used to break the 50-50 tie, but the GOP would need one Democratic defector for every additional Republican who votes “no” to confirm him.
