Rob Portman and other Republican senators are coalescing around Mitch McConnell's call to reject an Obama nominee to the Supreme Court. | Getty Portman, vulnerable Republican senators line up behind McConnell on SCOTUS

GOP Sens. Rob Portman and Pat Toomey joined a growing list of vulnerable Senate incumbents calling to delay a new Supreme Court confirmation until next year, as more Republicans line up behind an election-year strategy of blocking a replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia.

Portman of Ohio and Toomey of Pennsylvania join Republican Sens. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin in taking a hard line against anyone President Barack Obama might pick to fill the vacancy, a striking move in states that Obama won in his presidential elections. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose election year sales pitch emphasizes Republicans’ ability to govern, came out against filling the vacancy within hours of Scalia’s death.


Democrats pounced, arguing that McConnell’s strategy could lead Republicans to lose their majority and future Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York predicted that many Republicans would break with McConnell. But that hasn't happened.

“I believe the best thing for the country is to trust the American people to weigh in on who should make a lifetime appointment that could reshape the Supreme Court for generations,” Portman said, citing statistics that show it’s been decades since a Supreme Court nominee has been nominated and confirmed during the last year of a presidency. “This wouldn’t be unusual.”

While Toomey has tried to make confirmation of lifetime terms of lower-level judges that serve in Pennsylvania a priority after receiving heavy criticism from Democrats, he argued that Supreme Court is different.

"It makes sense to give the American people a more direct say in this critical decision. The next court appointment should be made by the newly-elected president," Toomey said. "President Obama insists that he will nominate someone for the Court. He certainly has the authority to do so. But let's be clear - his nominee will be rejected by the Senate."

Both Portman and Toomey emphasized they would treat a nomination in 2017 evenhandedly no matter which party wins the presidential election.

Portman and Ayotte, in particular, are casting themselves as pragmatic conservatives hailing from purple states, but they’re under steady fire for not bucking McConnell more often, particularly on the future of the Supreme Court. While Republicans privately say they do not believe Senate elections will hinge on their candidates’ obstruction of a new Supreme Court nominee, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has been attacking Portman on the matter since Scalia’s death.

“Sen. Portman is failing to do his job, shirking his responsibilities to our nation, jeopardizing the institutions of our democracy and engaging in exactly the kind of dysfunctional behavior that frustrates Ohioans about Congress,” Strickland said immediately after Portman’s Monday statement.

Shortly after Ayotte came out against a confirmation this year on Sunday night, her challenger in the New Hampshire Senate race, Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, lit into her as putting “her party leaders ahead of our country.”

“Failing to take up a Supreme Court nomination is a complete abdication of the Senate's constitutional duty,” Hassan said.

And Katie McGinty, the Democrats' preferred candidate to take on Toomey, called on him to break with McConnell and said not doing so would be "unprecedented and irresponsible."

Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, among the most moderate of Senate Republicans, remains undeclared and called the squabbling over the next justice "unseemly" when asked if he supports McConnell's plans.

"Let us take the time to honor his life before the inevitable debate erupts," Kirk said in an emailed statement.

Still, Kirk's delay in coming out with a position was quickly exploited by Democrats vying to defeat him.





"Sen. Mark Kirk must immediately level with the people of Illinois, and let us know whether he supports the Constitution, or if he’ll be a rubber stamp for Mitch McConnell’s obstructionist and unconstitutional gambit," said Rep. Tammy Duckworth, the favored Democratic candidate in Illinois.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who has taken tough votes during Obama’s presidency to confirm some of his top nominees, also backs McConnell’s strategy despite his maverick tendencies.

“I believe that we should wait until after the next election and let the American people pick the next president, and we should consider who the next president of the United States nominates,” McCain said on Arizona radio. McCain faces a primary challenger in his reelection campaign, as well as a formidable Democrat, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has been hammering GOP incumbents for lining up behind McConnell’s tactics, which will likely delay confirmation of a new justice for more than a year if the GOP sticks with its blockade. On Monday morning, the DSCC distributed news clips that illuminate the risk of lining up behind an obstructive strategy in purple and blue states, and on Sunday night it began building out its fundraising lists by asking donors to sign on to a letter opposing McConnell.

Republicans disagree. One senior aide said Monday that while the Supreme Court will animate some voters, the economy and national security will be far more important issues come November.