WASHINGTON — Former Pennsylvania Democrat Jason Altmire says accusations about President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh could “turn off” some of the conservative Democratic voters he once represented in Congress — who would side with some Republicans in questioning Kavanaugh’s accuser.
Altmire, who retired from Congress in 2013 after redistricting, told Beyond the Bubble that he believes Democrats overall stand to benefit from the confirmation turmoil, which is expected to bring both Kavanaugh and California psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford, who accused him of sexual assault rape in high school, before a Senate committee next week.
“[But] in individual [House] districts, I think some of these swing voters in a conservative district like the one I used to represent, might be turned off by the spectacle of an eleventh-hour accuser coming out with a 38-year-old accusation,” said Altmire. “I think they would take a more conservative view of the debate that’s about to occur ... of the merits of the allegation and the process that was used to bring it forth.”
Altmire, now the author of a book about political polarization, told BtB he believes Democrats will take the House in 2018, despite primary races that have pushed the party left.
Citing same sex marriage, immigration, abortion, and health care as examples, Altmire said “there’s been a very well defined leftward tilt in public opinion” on some of their base’s top priorities that once divided its candidates.
Altmire said unifying after the election, however, could be more challenging.
“The last time there was a blue wave…it was initiated by independent voters who had voted Republican in previous elections swinging toward the Democrats,” said Altmire, who was part of that incoming class in 2007. “This time the wave will be driven … much more so by the Democratic activists and the enthusiasm driven by the dislike of the president and direction of the country.”
“What the right sees as they’re losing the country as they know it, the left sees as a tremendous opportunity that they’ve been waiting decades for to redefine the direction of the country,” said Altmire, who conceded he might not be able to win a primary in today’s Democratic Party.
McClatchy’s Beyond the Bubble show is produced by Jordan-Marie Smith and Davin Coburn. Alex Roarty, a national political correspondent for McClatchy, and Andrea Drusch, Washington correspondent for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, recorded this episode at McClatchy’s Washington Bureau, September 18, 2018.