McConnell: Kavanaugh fight a ‘wake-up call’ ahead of November election

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Friday night that the fight over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was a “wake-up call” ahead of the November midterm elections.

“It’s a wake-up call to why it’s important to hold the Senate. You know the Senate’s in the personnel business,” McConnell told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham.

McConnell’s comments come as the Senate is poised to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court on Saturday.

The expected vote will give Republicans their second Supreme Court victory in as many years and a significant win roughly a month before the midterm election.

{mosads}McConnell added on Friday night that he would use the fight over Kavanaugh’s nomination to “remind everybody about the importance of the Senate” heading into the fall elections.

“These are lifetime appointments with conservative men and women who believe that the job of a judge is to interpret the law as its written,” McConnell said.

Republicans are heading into November with a largely favorable map. Democrats are defending 10 seats in states won by President Trump in 2016. Republicans, by comparison, are defending one seat in a state won by Hillary Clinton — Nevada, held by Sen. Dean Heller (R).

Only one Democratic senator is expected to vote for Kavanaugh on Saturday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Manchin, who is running for reelection in a state Trump won by 42 points, announced his support on Friday.

Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.), who are also up for reelection in states won by Trump, both joined Manchin last year in voting to confirm Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee.

Heitkamp and Donnelly have both said they will vote against Kavanaugh.