Republicans are ready to turn out in “record” numbers, joining an already electrified Democratic electorate to produce what’s likely to be a surge of voters, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted Wednesday.
The Kentucky Republican also said the “intimidation” campaign by liberal activists, encouraged by some Democratic lawmakers, during the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh exposed Democrats as the “culprits” of a coarsening of politics.
“It’s not coming from the Republican side of the aisle,” he told reporters.
Sen. Cory Gardner, Colorado Republican, said his wife was sent a text message with an image of a “graphic beheading.” Other GOP senators had their personal information posted online by a Democratic staffer, and protesters heckled and threatened Republicans in encounters across Washington — including from the Senate viewing galleries, even as the vote on Justice Kavanaugh was going on.
Republicans say the incivility starts at the top, after 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said this week that the offensive behavior will continue until her party wins control of either the House or Senate.
Those sorts of sentiments have energized GOP voters, senators said.
“Whatever deficit in enthusiasm Republican voters may have had going into the fall election has been eliminated,” Mr. McConnell said.
He predicted “record turnout” for both Republicans and Democrats next month.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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