Nearly a dozen people on Sunday stood in front of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ West Broadway home in Bangor holding signs urging her to oppose the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Collins, a Republican, has not yet said how she will vote. She is considered a swing vote and is being lobbied heavily.





Maine’s other senator, Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, h as said he will vote not to confirm Kavanaugh’s nomination.

It could not be determined Sunday if Collins was at her Bangor home when the protesters were there. Collins’ spokeswoman Annie Clark said the senator’s office had “no reaction to the protesters at her home.”

In December, people who opposed a tax reform bill protested in front of Collins’ home.

Republican leadership agreed Friday to delay a floor vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination to give the FBI a week to investigate allegations that Kavanaugh, who sits on the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court, sexually assaulted women when he was in high school and college. That decision came after the Judiciary Committee voted 11-10 to recommend confirmation.

Collins supported delaying the floor vote to allow time for the FBI investigation.

Many of the people outside Collins’ home Sunday said that they found Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused President Donald Trump’s nominee of sexual assault at a house party in Maryland in the early 1980s, to be credible. Others said that Kavanaugh’s response to her testimony showed that he did not have the judicial temperament to serve on the nation’s highest court.

“I know many women who went through what Christine Blasey Ford went through,” said Amanda Foran, 32, of Bangor. “There is every reason to believe her. I don’t understand why Sen. Collins is dragging her feet [in opposing Kavanaugh’s nomination].”

Valerie Walker, 62, of Frankfort said that she came Sunday because of Kavanaugh’s performance at the hearing before the Judiciary Committee.

“He was extremely rude,” she said. “If that is the way he treats senators, I don’t want him on the Supreme Court.

Four of the women at the protest wore handmade black judicial robes to represent the four judges considered to be liberals — Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Several of the protesters are long-time activists and members of Indivisible Bangor, a group of Democratic activists. Others said they had not carried signs or taken part in protest marches large or small before Trump was elected president.

Joan Lowden, 61, of Eastport recently moved to Maine from California. She said it was Ford’s testimony that spurred her to travel to Bangor on Sunday with her two dogs.

“I figured if Christine Blasey Ford had the courage to testify on Thursday, I could get my ass out of bed and drive a couple of hours to make a statement,” she said. “This is a lifetime appointment. The confirmation decision needs to be taken seriously and not rushed. I stand for a full investigation by the FBI.”

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