Students march outside Collins Maine office to protest Kavanaugh confirmation
A group of student protesters on Friday marched outside Sen. Susan Collins’ (R-Maine) Maine office, demanding that she vote against President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.
{mosads}Videos posted on Twitter by a photojournalist from the Press Herald show students from Bowdoin College marching on their way to Collins’s office to protest Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
The students carried signs that said, “Collins, Stand For Our Futures, #VoteNoOnKavanaugh” and “Keep Your Theocracy off my Democracy” while chanting “hey hey, ho ho, Kavanaugh has got to go.”
Students protest outside the Portland office of Senator Susan Collins, urging her to vote against confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. pic.twitter.com/Wdm7uJOEfe
Collins has received considerable attention in recent weeks because of the significant vote she holds over Kavanaugh’s confirmation. She has previously stated that she would not vote for a nominee who was “hostile” toward the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.
Many Democratic lawmakers and progressive groups have argued that Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the court would put the legislation in jeopardy.
A crowdfunding campaign with the goal of having Collins vote against Trump’s Supreme Court pick surpassed $1 million earlier this week.
The “Be A Hero” campaign encouraged people to donate about $20 to a future Collins Democratic challenger if she votes to confirm Kavanaugh.
“I consider this quid pro quo fundraising to be the equivalent of an attempt to bribe me to vote against Judge Kavanaugh,” Collins told conservative news outlet Newsmax.
Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) are seen as swing votes on the nominee due to the pair siding with Democrats in the past on issues such as abortion and ObamaCare. The Democrats would need two Republicans to join them in order to sink Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
Collins had a one-hour call with Kavanaugh on Friday, according to a spokesman for her office.
The call was scheduled before reports of sexual misconduct accusations against Kavanaugh surfaced.
The New Yorker reported on Friday that a letter details an incident between Kavanaugh and an unknown woman when they were in high school. The magazine reported that a woman accused Kavanaugh of holding “her down and that he attempted to force himself on her.”
Kavanaugh has released a statement denying this charge.