Republican Senate hopeful Josh Hawley, challenger to Sen. Claire McCaskill, said Monday her silence made her complicit in Democrats’ “smear campaign” against Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

“This is her party. These are her leaders. And she would not raise a single word against it,” Mr. Hawley told reports on a conference. “She would not say a word against her party telling them to stop this sham, this disgrace, this circus.”

Mr. Hawley, who is in a tight race with Mrs. McCaskill in Missouri, joins other GOP candidates looking to keep Republican voters energized over Justice Kavanaugh’s hard-fought confirmation.

Republican voter enthusiasm spiked during the two-week confirmation ordeal in which Justice Kavanaugh weathered uncorroborated allegations of sexual misconduct in high school and college.

“She was happy to go right along with it and of course, cast a no vote, though I note she would not actually voice her no vote but cast it silently,” he said. “But a no is a no and she is with her party 100 percent of the time on Supreme Court nominations and she was with them through this terrible process.”

The McCaskill campaign did not immediately respond.

Prodding Mrs. McCaskill to speak out against her party, Mr. Hawley rattle off a long list of Democrats from Sen. Cory Booker to former Attorney General Eric Holder who have either called for Justice Kavanaugh’s impeachment or said his confirmation delegitimizes the Supreme Court.

“It is a radical, radical agenda that gets more aggressive by the day,” Mr. Hawley said.

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