A look at supplemental F.B.I. background investigation into the Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. ; 2c x 4 inches; 96.3 mm x 101 mm; 
Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Tom Williams/Pool Image via AP) 
Protesters rally in Time Square in New York, Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018. Hundreds of people rallied in front of Trump Tower then walked to Times Square to protest Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) 
Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., smiles as he talks with reporters after a vote to advance Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, on Capitol Hill, Friday, Oct. 5, 2018 in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) 
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., gestures while speaking as he boards the Senate subway car, after a vote to advance Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, on Capitol Hill, Friday, Oct. 4, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) 
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., right, and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., left, walk together after viewing the FBI supplemental background report on Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh in the SCIF in the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Oct. 5, 2018, before the procedural vote on the Senate floor later in the morning. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) 
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, speaks with reporters just after a deeply divided Senate pushed Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination past a key procedural hurdle, setting up a likely final showdown vote for Saturday, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Oct. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) 
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is followed by members of the media as she walks to the Capitol before a vote to advance Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, on Capitol Hill, Friday, Oct. 5, 2018 in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
WASHINGTON | Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said Friday she will vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, all but ensuring that a deeply riven Senate will elevate the conservative jurist to the nation’s highest court despite allegations that he sexually assaulted women decades ago.
The dramatic Senate floor announcement by perhaps the chamber’s most moderate Republican ended most of the suspense over a tortuous, election-season battle that had left Kavanaugh’s fate in doubt for nearly a month after the first accusation against him. It all but assured a victory for President Donald Trump’s quest to move the Supreme Court rightward, perhaps for decades, and a satisfying win for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and the GOP’s conservative base.
The Senate’s showdown roll call confirmation vote is expected Saturday afternoon.
Colorado’s senators were split.
“I announced my support for Judge Kavanaugh in July, and I will be voting to approve his nomination to the Supreme Court,” said GOP Sen. Cory Gardner. “No evidence was found by the FBI to corroborate the allegations made against him or to make me change the support I announced for him in July.”
Colo. Sen. Michael Bennet stood by his decision to oppose the nomination based on how Bennet thinks he would vote on key issues.
“We have exported the mindless, empty, counterproductive, unimaginative, meaningless partisanship from the floor of the Senate to the United States Supreme Court,” Bennet said. “We should be ashamed that we’re doing that to an independent branch of our government.”
Colorado Democrats were incensed by the vote, especially that of Gardner’s, who has told media yesterday he would remain undecided until he saw the FBI follow-up.
“Having lied to his constituents just yesterday about his intentions to vote for Kavanaugh, Gardner will go down in history as a capitulating coward, and he will be judged accordingly by the voters in 2020,” Colorado Democratic Chairwoman Morgan Carroll said in a statement.
With Republicans controlling the chamber by a narrow 51-49, Collins’ “yes” vote essentially assured a minimum of 50 votes for Kavanaugh. Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a fellow moderate and friend of Collins, has indicated that she will vote no, calling Kavanaugh “a good man” but maybe “not the right man for the court at this time.”
Vice President Mike Pence planned to be available Saturday in case his tie-breaking vote was needed.
Kavanaugh’s path to the court seemed unfettered until mid-September, when Christine Blasey Ford accused him of drunkenly sexually assaulting her in a locked bedroom at a 1982 high school gathering. Two other women later emerged with sexual misconduct allegations from the 1980s, all of which Kavanaugh has denied.
By Friday afternoon, the sole remaining undeclared senator was Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat. Manchin, who faces a competitive re-election next month in a state Trump overwhelmingly carried in 2016, voted to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination in a key procedural vote earlier Friday.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who’s repeatedly battled Trump and will retire in January, said he’d vote for Kavanaugh’s confirmation “unless something big changes.”
In the procedural ballot, senators voted 51-49 to limit debate, defeating Democratic efforts to scuttle the nomination with endless delays. That was the day’s first GOP victory in the spellbinding battle that’s been fought against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement and stalwart conservative support for Trump.
Deeply coloring the day’s events was a burning resentment by partisans on both sides, on and off the Senate floor.