Sen. Jeff Flake at the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Pool/Getty Images

After Jeff Flake issued a statement that he would vote yes in the Judiciary Committee to advance Kavanaugh’s confirmation, he was cornered in a Senate elevator by protesters, including one woman who said, through tears, “I was sexually assaulted and nobody believed me. … You’re telling all women that they don’t matter, that they should just stay quiet, that if they tell you what happened to them you’re going to ignore them. That’s what happened to me, that’s what you’re telling all women in America: They don’t matter.”


Flake was seen as one of the few Republicans who might actually vote against Kavanaugh; he is retiring from the Senate instead of facing re-election in November and had, after Ford’s allegations became public, asked for a hearing with her before a vote. But, as he has many times before, he eventually fell in line with his Republican colleagues.