Christine Blasey Ford alleges that Kavanaugh held her down on a bed, groped her and covered her mouth to mute her distress at a house party in Maryland in 1982 when both were high school students.

Kavanaugh denies the allegations, and the Senate Judiciary Committee has been locked in negotiations that spilled into Saturday on whether Ford would testify next week and on what day, among other conditions.

Trump and the Republican Party had seen erosion in female support even before the current furor. Now the question is whether the allegations, and the response to them, will inflict further damage with the midterms roughly six weeks away.

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Some Democratic strategists say they could be on the brink of a similar situation to one seen a generation ago.

In 1991, Anita Hill accused then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her. Thomas was ultimately confirmed to the high court, but the following year saw Democrats win the White House and four female senators — all Democrats — get elected. It was dubbed the Year of the Woman.

“The dynamics of having exclusively white male Republican senators [questioning Hill] ushered in the ‘Year of the Woman’ — the biggest understanding of the need to expand women’s political power this country has ever seen,” said Democratic strategist Jess McIntosh.

McIntosh added she could “only imagine what happens in 2018” given that women are, she said, “incandescent with rage right now.”

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have also compared the handling of the Kavanaugh controversy to the Hill hearings.

In a letter to Grassley on Friday , the 10 Democratic senators on the panel asserted: “The Committee majority’s treatment of Dr. Ford has unquestionably been worse than the disgraceful treatment that Anita Hill received 27 years ago.”

Some Republicans privately express concerns about how the controversy could play at the ballot box, especially with suburban female voters, whose support will be pivotal in the midterms.

But a number of opinion polls have pointed to a much wider Democratic advantage this year, even before the Kavanaugh controversy.

An NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll over the summer showed Republicans losing the group by a 2-1 margin, 60 points to 30 points.