2018 Senate races

Kennedy retirement jolts 2018 Senate races

Red-state Republicans hammered Democratic senators as obstacles to adding another conservative judge to the Supreme Court.

By JAMES ARKIN

Republican Senate candidates lashed out at Democratic incumbents after Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement announcement Wednesday, arguing that the Democrats have stood in the way of conservative judges backed by President Donald Trump and their constituents.

Kennedy’s decision has roiled the midterm election landscape, two years after a Supreme Court vacancy played a critical role in Trump’s successful presidential campaign. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he intends to confirm Kennedy’s replacement this fall, and conservative groups quickly signaled they would spend heavily on the confirmation fight.

That fight will focus on five Senate Democrats in states Trump won by double-digits — places where Republicans are running as close allies to the president and hoping voters view this year’s congressional elections as referendums on support for Trump, who remains popular in those states.

Three of those Democrats — Sens. Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.) — voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch last spring, while Sens. Jon Tester (Mont.) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.) voted against Trump’s first Supreme Court pick. Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, who is running against McCaskill, has repeatedly criticized her Gorsuch vote and doubled down on the attack Wednesday.

“Claire McCaskill has never once voted in line with Missouri’s wishes on a Supreme Court nominee, and that’s why she must be replaced,” Hawley said.

Even those running against Democrats who supported Trump’s last pick went on the attack over the Kennedy vacancy. Mike Braun, the Republican challenging Donnelly in Indiana, said he expects Donnelly to support Trump’s eventual nominee and pre-emptively accused him of doing so for political purposes.

“Hoosiers won’t be fooled by Senator Donnelly’s election year pandering,” Braun said.

Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada, the only Republican incumbent running in a state Hillary Clinton carried in 2016, predicted earlier this year that Kennedy would retire and said it would help galvanize his base. He sent out a fundraising appeal to supporters almost immediately after the vacancy was announced.

“Think of it this way -- if there is another vacancy, who do you want picking the next Supreme Court Justice? President Trump and Senate Republicans or obstructionist Democrats?” Heller wrote in the email solicitation.

But Heller’s opponent, Rep. Jacky Rosen, saw the Court vacancy as an opportunity to press Heller on the politics of abortion. She said in a tweet that the “future of the Supreme Court is now fully in play.” Rosen retweeted Planned Parenthood and NARAL, two pro-choice advocacy groups that raised alarms about the future of Roe v. Wade if Trump’s pick is confirmed and signaled they would be heavily invested in fighting against the eventual nominee.

“Senator Heller wants you to vote for him because he'll rubber stamp another nominee from President Trump, who could jeopardize Roe v. Wade and undermine coverage protections for pre-existing conditions,” Rosen said.

Meanwhile, Democrats have also launched fundraising efforts citing the vacancy, sensing the deep concerns in their base over the Supreme Court. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who is running an uphill challenge against Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas, sent a fundraising email to his supporters saying, “everything we care about is on the line.”

Senate Democrats campaign committee sent a fundraising appeal calling the vacancy news an “all hands on deck moment.”

Other Democrats took aim at McConnell’s decision not to hold a hearing or vote for former President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee in 2016, arguing that McConnell should abide by the same standard this year. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who chairs Senate Democrats’ campaign committee, said, “The McConnell rule is clear.”

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, who is in a competitive reelection again Gov. Rick Scott, said any confirmation should wait until after November.

“I believe the American people should be given the opportunity to express their view in the upcoming election, and then have the Senate exercise its constitutional duties,” Nelson said.

Scott tweeted that there should be no delay in confirming a justice and that “Senate Democrats should not try to play politics or obstruct this process,” though he didn’t mention Nelson by name.

The Supreme Court also gave Republicans an opportunity to tie local Democratic candidates to Washington Democratic leaders who want to stop another Trump appointment to the bench. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the likely Republican nominee to replace retiring Sen. Bob Corker in Tennessee, said she supported nominees like Gorsuch, and attacked former Gov. Phil Bredesen, her likely opponent.

“This is an important difference between Phil Bredesen and me — he will be with Chuck Schumer who will attempt to block the President’s pick and weaken the court,” Blackburn said.

Bredesen shot back in a video posted on social media: "I'm going to vote for or against a nominee based solely on whether I believe them to be highly qualified and ethical, not based on partisan politics.”

Republicans are likely to have significant spending behind them on the confirmation battle: Judicial Crisis Network launched an immediate seven-figure TV buy to pressure Democrats on the issue.

And Steven Law, the president of One Nation, a nonprofit affiliated with McConnell that has already spent millions in multiple races this year, said his group will be active on the issue.

“We intend to be fully engaged in advocacy supporting the nomination and confirmation of a constitutional conservative to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Law said.