Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill Will Vote No On Kavanaugh

ST. LOUIS, MO — Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill will not vote to confirm President Trump's Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh, the Missouri lawmaker said in a statement Wednesday evening. She said her decision wasn't based on recent sexual assault allegations by Professor Christine Blasey Ford, a research psychologist at Palo Alto University, but rather the judge's record.

"I have been thorough in examining Judge Kavanaugh's record," McCaskill explained. "And while the recent allegations against him are troubling and deserve a thorough and fair examination by the Senate Judiciary Committee, my decision is not based on those allegations but rather on his positions on several key issues, most importantly the avalanche of dark, anonymous money that is crushing our democracy."

Kavanaugh, McCaskill said, has revealed a bias against limits on campaign donations, which places him too far out of the political mainstream. She accused him of giving foreign governments the power to legally interfere in U.S. elections through so-called "issue ads," saying that a Russian company indicted for election interference is currently citing one of Kavanaugh's opinions in their defense.

"While I am also uncomfortable about his view on Presidential power as it relates to the rule of law, and his position that corporations are people, it is his allegiance to the position that unlimited donations and dark anonymous money, from even foreign interests, should be allowed to swamp the voices of individuals that has been the determining factor in my decision to vote no on his nomination."

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The issue ads McCaskill cites are currently running against her in a hard-fought battle with Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley for U.S. Senate.

Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group funded by Charles and David Koch, recently released an ad attacking McCaskill's voting record. "D.C. changed McCaskill," the ad says, criticizing her support of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, and her opposition to short-term health insurance plans. Conservatives have called those plans more affordable. McCaskill and many Democrats call them "junk."

McCaskill has also criticized an Obamacare lawsuit from Halwey that, if successful, could cut Medicare benefits for Missouri seniors and protections for pre-existing conditions.

"Dark money? Really?" McCaskill's Republican opponent wrote on Twitter after her announcement. "This from the person who is trying to BREAK campaign finance laws RIGHT NOW and who runs her family business as a dark money operation?"

That accusation stems from McCaskill's refusal last week to release her husband's tax returns, which prompted allegations she's hiding her family's wealth by filing separately. Hawley and his wife released their joint tax returns.

In her Senate campaign, McCaskill has often tried to walk a fine line between her Democratic base and the state's rural, more conservative bent. At an appearance at a St. Louis coffee shop earlier this week, according to the Associated Press, McCaskill defended voting for increased border security, said she didn't think NFL players kneeling during the national anthem is appropriate — "but I respect anybody's right to do it" — and put a damper on talk of the president's impeachment.

"I'm authentically a moderate," she told the crowd. "For those of you who are already irritated with me, now you're going to be more irritated."

Hawley, on the other hand, has tacked hard to the right, embracing the president, whose approval ratings hover around 40 percent nationally but are 10 points higher in Missouri, according to the polling aggregation and analysis website FiveThirtyEight.

"We are just over 24 hours from our rally with President @realDonaldTrump in Springfield," he wrote on Twitter Thursday. "Incredible number of RSVPs. It's going to be amazing..."

In a pinned Tweet from June, Halwey said it was time "to send partisan, phony @clairemc packing," adding the #MAGA hashtag popular among President Trump's supporters.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images