Washington (CNN) Democratic senators on Sunday called for the Senate Judiciary Committee to delay its planned vote on Brett Kavanaugh's nomination for the Supreme Court after a woman who accused him of sexual misconduct revealed her identity.

The woman who went public, Christine Blasey Ford, previously described the alleged incident in a letter to Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking member of the committee. Feinstein said she referred the matter to the FBI and that the woman had requested confidentiality.

The California senator said in a statement after Ford went public that she backs her decision to tell about the alleged incident and hopes "the attacks and shaming of her will stop and this will be treated with the seriousness it deserves." She also said she wants the FBI to investigate the matter before the Senate advances Kavanaugh's nomination.

"I support Mrs. Ford's decision to share her story, and now that she has, it is in the hands of the FBI to conduct an investigation," Feinstein's statement said. "This should happen before the Senate moves forward on this nominee."

In an article published Sunday, Ford spoke with The Washington Post and said at a party in the early 1980s, when both she and Kavanaugh were high school students, Kavanaugh pushed her into a room with his friend, tried to remove her clothes and put his hand over her mouth to silence her when she yelled, Kavanaugh, in a statement, has denied the allegation, and the White House reiterated Kavanaugh's denial on Sunday.

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