More than two dozen Maine women, many of them survivors of sexual assault, are in Washington D.C. Thursday to try to meet personally with Sen. Susan Collins before a confirmation vote on Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
Becky DeKeuster of Sidney is among those who chartered a bus from Portland Wednesday night in order to attend a noon rally outside the Supreme Court, and to lobby Collins and other senators who have not yet announced their positions on Kavanaugh.
Speaking from the bus, DeKeuster says there's more than one reason Collins should vote “No.”
"I want her to know, number one, that this man has — well his nomination — has ripped scabs off, it has brought up some really deeply buried, very painful — some of the worst moments in people's' lives,” says DeKeuster. “His temperament? Can you imagine a Ruth Bader Ginsburg at a hearing like that, behaving the way he did? He does not have a Supreme Court justice's temperament."
Kate Byrne of Portland says she was moved by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's testimony last week to share with her father her own story of sexual assault, something she had never previously disclosed to anyone. Byrne says hearing Ford and other women's stories about sexual assault has galvanized her to get politically active against Kavanaugh's confirmation vote which could happen this weekend.
"I don't want to be 50 and look back at what I didn't do, because I firmly believe that he is not going to do anything good if he is sworn to that court, to that bench and we are here to fight for all of us."
spokesperson for Senator Collins says that she is meeting with various groups Thursday, and that the office is attempting to schedule staff meetings with others who show up.
Annie Clark, the Senator’s communications director, says that her boss has already spoken to hundreds of Mainers about the Kavanaugh nomination.
Clark also says that Collins and other Republicans were being briefed this morning about the findings of the FBI's supplemental investigation.
