Updated at 2:30 p.m. with Cornyn comments.

WASHINGTON — The fight over the next Supreme Court justice will hang over the nation's capital for a few months. And in Texas, it has emerged as a major point of contention between Sen. Ted Cruz and his challenger, Rep. Beto O'Rourke.

The El Paso Democrat made his opposition to Judge Brett Kavanaugh explicit on Wednesday, not that it came as much of a surprise. And he predicted that Cruz will pay a price for backing the nomination.

"He's the wrong pick," O'Rourke told The Dallas Morning News in his first direct comments about the nominee. "I don't think the judge's positions on the issues that Texans care most about line up with our values or our interests. So yeah, I think there will be a consequence for his support for Judge Kavanaugh."

Although Kavanaugh wasn't Cruz's favorite for the vacancy, he quickly fell in line behind President Donald Trump's choice, calling him a "serious nominee" and pledging his support.

The direction of the high court is at stake.

Justice Anthony Kennedy has controlled the court's center for more than a decade, providing pivotal votes to allow same sex marriage, protect affirmative action, and set rules for campaign donations and capital punishment. In a series of 5-4 cases, he formed shifting coalitions with reliably conservative justices and with the liberal wing.

That made him a disappointment to conservatives, and one of the most influential jurists of modern times.

Cruz, among many others, has been eager for the chance to change a 5-4 centrist court into a 5-4 court controlled by legal conservatives. He lobbied Trump to pick Utah Sen. Mike Lee after Kennedy announced his retirement two weeks ago.

But Trump picked Kavanaugh, a top aide in the George W. Bush administration named by Bush in 2006 to serve on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the second most powerful federal bench.

Cruz has embraced the choice, like nearly all Senate Republicans, including fellow Texan John Cornyn, the Senate deputy majority leader, who met with Kavanaugh on Wednesday.

Cornyn recalled a practice session in 2000 ahead of his oral argument before the Supreme Court in a Texas school prayer case. Cornyn was the state's attorney general and Kavanaugh was helping him to prepare, and they reminisced about that on Wednesday, the senator said.

"He's an exceptional choice to serve on the Supreme Court," Cornyn said, adding that it took the Senate just 66 days to confirm Justice Neil Gorsuch last year. At that rate, Kavanaugh could be sworn in with a couple of weeks to spare before the court begins its new term on Oct. 1

"There's much to like in Judge Kavanaugh's record. And by any measure, he is one of the most distinguished and respected judges in the country," Cruz said Tuesday on a conservative radio show. "I fully expect that Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed and will be confirmed this fall."

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh mets with Sen John Cornyn of Texas at the Senate on Wednesday. (Evan Vucci / AP)

Cruz called his record as an appellate judge "quite strong," particularly in cases involving separation of powers, protecting religious liberty and Second Amendment gun rights, and reining in federal agencies.

Republicans control the Senate by two votes, a narrow margin but enough to confirm a justice since Republicans changed the rules last year — requiring a simple majority in the 100-member Senate, down from a 60-vote threshold.

Democrats hope to stall long enough to get past the November midterms when, they hope, they'll gain enough leverage to force Trump to select a more centrist jurist.

"I just don't think he is going to be good for the country and for the people in Texas," O'Rourke said of Kavanaugh, citing the judge's views on health care, abortion rights, gun violence, campaign finance, voting rights, environmental protection and net neutrality.

"We need a justice who is going to make decisions that are in the national interest and adhere to the Constitution. I just don't think that Kavanaugh meets that test," he said.

How can Democrats block him?

"In their questioning of him they can raise these issues so that the American public understands the consequences and what's at stake in Judge Kavanaugh's record," O'Rourke said. "I've seen some extraordinary things when the American people really apply their pressure and their voice on significant public policy decisions."

He noted the public pressure last summer when Republicans in Congress tried to repeal Obamacare, and the backlash against the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy toward illegal border crossings, which led to more than 2,000 children being separated from parents.

In a fund-raising appeal sent moments after Trump announced his pick on Monday night, O'Rourke indicated that he'd like to see the vote delayed until after the midterm elections.

"We know exactly how Ted Cruz will vote. So we've got to do everything we can to ensure he's not in the Senate when the vote is called," the Democrat's email said.