All eyes are on moderate GOP Sens. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Susan Collins (Maine), and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), three key votes who could make or break the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. But anyone hoping that they'll all vote no shouldn't hold their breath: These senators have a long track record of voting along with the interests of President Trump.
FiveThirtyEight keeps track of how often each U.S. senator votes in line with Trump's position on any given issue, and its data reveals that Flake is aligned with Trump roughly 84 percent of the time. The Arizona senator last week called for the FBI to conduct a supplemental background investigation into Kavanaugh in light of the multiple sexual misconduct allegations made against him, which Kavanaugh denies. Flake on Friday voted in favor of moving Kavanaugh's confirmation forward after indicating Thursday he was satisfied with the FBI's probe.
Meanwhile, Murkowski is aligned with Trump about 83 percent of the time, FiveThirtyEight reports. Murkowski said Thursday she needed to examine the FBI report and did not specify whether she thought it was thorough, per CNN's Manu Raju. On Friday, she actually voted no on moving Kavanaugh's nomination forward.
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Finally, Collins aligns with Trump about 80 percent of time, the least often of the three swing senators. Collins on Friday decided to vote yes, bringing the final tally of votes to 51 in favor of moving Kavanaugh's confirmation forward, 49 against. Of course, they could all change their minds in the final vote on Saturday. But based on these senators' public comments, and on their voting history, the odds for a Justice Kavanaugh are looking good.
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