Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine joined with nearly all of her GOP colleagues and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia in voting Friday morning to invoke cloture, meaning the Senate is expected to hold a final vote on Saturday to confirm or reject Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.

Just ahead of the procedural vote on Friday, Collins announced she will reveal how she plans to vote on Saturday during a speech scheduled for 3pm ET on Friday.

Sen. Susan Collins on the Kavanaugh vote: “I will be voting ‘yes’ on proceeding to the final confirmation vote, and I will announce my intentions on how to vote later today.” Live updates: https://t.co/oD5YCsUKhF pic.twitter.com/Y8BW5dpLIX — CNN (@CNN) October 5, 2018

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Before Collins' speech on Friday, critics of Kavanaugh—including members of the women's rights group UltraViolet Action—plan to protest outside the senator's Portland, Maine office at noon. UltraViolet Action co-founder and executive director Shaunna Thomas said that if "Collins votes for Brett Kavanaugh—she is saying point blank that she doesn't care about sexual assault survivors, she does not believe them, and she has no interest in pretending anymore that she does."

It all matters, every call matters. Don’t stop, we won’t stop. Please keep calling!



Collins

202-224-2523



Flake

202-224-4521



Manchin

202-224-3954



Our voices matter!!!!



~~ We The People ~~ — Karine Jean-Pierre (@K_JeanPierre) October 5, 2018

Collins and Manchin, along with Sens. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have been identified as the determining votes for the widely opposed nominee's confirmation. Murkowski was the only Republican to vote against advancing the nomination on Friday. Kavanaugh has provoked opposition with his judicial record, documented perjury, multiple allegations of sexual assault, and how he behaved at a Senate hearing last week to address these allegations.

There had been some speculation that the cloture vote on Friday would be rescheduled following reports that Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana plans to attend his daughter's wedding on Saturday no matter the Senate schedule. Now that the Senate has invoked cloture, there is a 30-hour window in which senators must hold a final vote.