Transcript for Countdown to final Kavanaugh confirmation vote

We are just hours away now from a final vote on whether judge Brett Kavanaugh will become supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh. It has been a brutal fight with allegations of sexual misconduct, but it appears Kavanaugh has the votes although it may be the most narrow and polarized confirmation vote for a supreme court nominee in U.S. History. It, of course, will be a huge victory for president trump and also for conservatives generally and with his lifetime appointment, Brett Kavanaugh is likely to push the court to the right for many years to come. So many questions this morning. Will Kavanaugh take his seat on the court with a cloud over his head? Will his confirmation fire up female voters in the midterms? We'll get reaction from a white house spokesman in a moment but we start with senior congressional correspondent Mary Bruce on capitol hill. Good morning, Mary. Reporter: Good morning. The senate is now poised to confirm judge Kavanaugh. This has been a nasty, ugly political fight that ultimately came down to just a handful of key swing votes. And for those senators, this decision was agonizing. This morning judge Brett Kavanaugh has the votes to be confirmed to the supreme court. I will vote to confirm judge Kavanaugh. Republican senator Susan Collins a crucial swing vote announcing her support during a 45-minute speech. The presumption of innocence and fairness do bear on my thinking and I cannot abandon them. Reporter: While protesters packed the senator's office, Collins argued there was not enough evidence to back up professor Christine blasey Ford's allegations against Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. I do not believe that these charges can fairly prevent judge Kavanaugh from serving on the court. Reporter: But her fellow Republican Lisa murkowski of Alaska came to a different conclusion. In my conscience, I could not conclude that he is the right person for the court at this time. Reporter: She says there are lessons to be learned about sexual assault. We owe it to the victims of sexual assault to do more and to do better and to do it now. Reporter: Murkowski's no could have led to a 50-50 split if the Democrats united in opposition but one lone Democrat, West Virginia Joe Manchin crossed party lines announcing he is a yes. Mr. Manchin, aye. Reporter: He's facing a tough re-election battle in a state trump won in a landslide tried to explain his decision. Do you believe Dr. Ford? I believe Dr. Ford. Reporter: He was drowned out. [ Chanting "Shame, shame, shame" ] Reporter: For the key swing votes, the political pressure was tremendous. Republican senator Jeff flake who demanded the FBI investigate the allegations against Kavanaugh says the decision was agonizing. This is a difficult decision for everybody. It really is. Reporter: With Kavanaugh set to serve on the court, Christine blasey Ford's legal team telling us she still feels like she did the right thing. This has been a pretty brutal, ugly fight. Does she have any row gets about coming forward? I think she feels good about the fact that she came forward and did what she felt strong which was her civic duty to do. Reporter: Overnight her sister-in-law speaking out concerned about the toll of this final decision. But I think that Chrissy is probably feeling retraumatized by not being taken more seriously and I know many other survivors are being retraumatized and I think that more than ever we just have to keep speaking out. Reporter: Now, even though senator Lisa murkowski is opposed, the only Republican no vote here this afternoon she's expected to technically vote present, not no. That's so her fellow Republican colleague senator Steve Daines doesn't have to rush back to Washington. He has an important obligation. He needs to walk his daughter down the aisle today. Guy, a little bit of political civility to end this brutal fight. Definitely can't miss that. Mary, though, obviously plenty of reaction to all of this and already speculation about who may run against senators Collins and murkowski. Yeah, the fallout was swift here. On Twitter we saw Obama's former communications director asking who wants to run for senate in Maine? There will be an army of supporters with you and we saw ambassador Susan rice quickly tweeting, me. And then Sarah Palin also chiming in saying, hey, Lisa murkowski, I can see 2022 from my house. We'll see how it all plays out. Mary Bruce, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.