Red state Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly (Indiana), Joe Manchin (West Virginia). Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota), and Doug Jones (Alabama) were invited by Trump to attend his Supreme Court nominee announcement at the White House. They all turned him down.
Fox News’ Chad Pergram reported:
Dem Sens Donnelly, Heitkamp, Manchin all invited to the WH tonight for SCOTUS pick announcement. All declined. All 3 voted to confirm SCOTUS Justice Gorsuch last year
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 9, 2018
WH invited Dem AL Sen Doug Jones to SCOTUS announcement tonite. But Jones declined. Jones was elected to the Senate in Dec, months after Gorsuch was confirmed. Jones is not up this fall. But he's a conservative Dem in a very red state. Jones could be worth watching in this fight
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 9, 2018
Heitkamp office: Heitkamp was invited but isn’t able to attend tonight. She has made clear..that she considers fully vetting Supreme Court nominees one of the most important jobs of any U.S. senator, and she plans to fulfill that critical duty.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 9, 2018
Democrats are showing a united front
The Trump brand is so damaged, and Democratic incumbents are generally doing so much better than expected in many of these red states, that the Democrats don’t have to beat a path to the White House. Republicans are especially disappointed that Manchin and Heitkamp have looked so strong in their reelection campaigns. Not going to the White House is not the same as not voting for the nominee, but the message being loudly sent to the White House is that Trump will not be able to count on any Democratic votes to get his Supreme Court nominee confirmed.
The Republican Party’s whole strategy since Trump took office has been to try pressure red state Democrats into supporting this president. It hasn’t worked before, and it isn’t working now. If Trump wants to destroy Roe v. Wade, he will have to do it with Republican votes, because so far, Democrats are showing zero interest in playing along.
For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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