House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Sunday that sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh are making it more likely for Republican candidates to win in November.
McCarthy, R-Calif., said he believes that the allegations, the focus of Thursday testimony from Kavanaugh and accuser Christine Blasey Ford, are making Republicans more likely to get involved and vote.
“Prior to the Kavanaugh hearing, the intensity level was really on the Democratic side,” McCarthy said during a Fox News interview.
“More Democrats were wanting to go vote than Republicans. Republicans thought there was not a need,” he said. “But in the last week there has been a fundamental shift. People are now becoming upset. Not just at how Justice Kavanaugh was treated, but Dr. Ford. That the Democrats, knowing, had this letter, held it, and then put her though this — you did not have to do this.”
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On Thursday, Kavanaugh angrily denied assaulting Ford when he was 17 years old. Ford also testified, saying Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, attempted to remove her clothes, and covered her mouth in a way that made her fear for her life.
Ford’s testimony was widely seen as compelling. “Certainly she was a very credible witness,” Trump said Friday, when Kavanaugh was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Trump agreed to a one-week FBI investigation of assault claims Kavanaugh faces after senators on both sides of the aisle pushed for it.
Ford shared her assault allegation in a July letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the most senior Democrat on the committee. Ford requested confidentiality, but someone leaked her letter after Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings were complete but before a vote, throwing his nomination into question.
Two other women have accused Kavanaugh of misconduct. Former Yale University classmate Deborah Ramirez says that Kavanaugh, then 18, exposed himself to her while drunk, forcing her to touch his penis without her consent. Julie Swetnick claimed last week she was gang-raped at a party where Kavanaugh was present.
“I think the intensity level has increased because of what has transformed,” McCarthy said on Fox News. “If on Nov. 7 we woke up and the Democrats took the majority, what you watched last week would be intensified for the next two years.”
McCarthy said he’s seen an increase in Republican engagement on many fronts since the Kavanaugh allegations were made public.
“I think it’s changed drastically. We look at just the absentee ballots, those who are requesting ballots prior, that’s increased over the last week. We look at volunteerism coming into the campaign. We look at things that are happening online,” he said.
