Nick Givas on November 7, 2018
RealClearPolitics President Tom Bevan said Republicans owe their election night success to the controversy surrounding Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation.
“[Democratic Florida Sen.] Bill Nelson went down, [Democratic Sens.] Claire McCaskill [of Missouri], Heidi Heitkamp [of North Dakota], Joe Donnelly [of Indiana], [Jon] Tester [of Montana] voted against [Kavanaugh],” Bevan said on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday.
“[West Virginia Sen. Joe] Manchin was the only Democrat who voted for Kavanaugh and he won his race and even then he won it just barely,” he added. “Had he voted against Kavanaugh, it might have been a different outcome there.”
Bevan said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer knows he made a miscalculation with Kavanaugh and that it’s cost his party a chance to flip both houses.
“I think Chuck Schumer — Democrats would privately say in hindsight that wasn’t a good move. But on the other side, give credit to cocaine [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch [McConnell],” Bevan said. “The way he didn’t hold a hearing for [Judge] Merrick Garland, saved that seat for Republicans. And the way that he stuck with and pushed through Kavanaugh really galvanized the Republican Party.”
“Folks who hadn’t been warm to [President Donald] Trump, Republicans who’d been sort of iffy on Trump really were welded to Trump and to the party, came home in the end,” Bevan concluded.
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