Protesters aim to push Flake to flip
Throngs of protesters are being urged to converge on City Hall today when U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake makes an appearance here just days after he acted as the key swing Republican vote to move Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate.
Mayor Martin J. Walsh, congressional candidate Ayanna Pressley and gubernatorial hopeful Jay Gonzalez will all speak at the rally organized by NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, to push Flake, who’s headlining the Forbes “30 Under 30” event at the location, to vote against Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
Flake, an Arizona senator on the Senate Judiciary Committee, thrust himself into the spotlight Friday when he broke with party lines and requested an FBI background investigation into Kavanaugh, a federal judge who is accused of sexual assault. Flake originally had announced his support for Kavanaugh, but changed his mind after two women who said they had been sexually assaulted confronted him in an elevator and demanded he vote against the judge. Flake said the FBI needs to investigate before he’ll support Kavanaugh with a vote on the floor of the Senate.
“He showed us on Friday that he would respond to the voices of survivors,” said Rebecca Holder, the executive director of the state NARAL organization and one of the main organizers of the demonstration today. “We need to show him that wherever he goes, there will be survivors, and they’ll hold his feet to the fire.”
Walsh said in a statement, “We will stand up for and alongside these survivors because they are powerful, they give voice to others and they should not be dismissed. We will urge senators from across the country to do what is right, and vote to reject Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.”
A spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren told the Herald the senator may attend but has a scheduling conflict that the campaign is trying to work out.
State Rep. Geoff Diehl, a Whitman Republican who is running against Warren, told the Herald he continues to believe Kavanaugh should be confirmed, but said he’s always happy to see elected officials explaining their decisions to the public.
“Hopefully anybody who wants to talk to the senator is able to say what they feel,” Diehl said of Flake.
Pressley, a city councilor who is running unopposed to represent half of Boston in Congress, said in a statement that the groping allegations against Kavanaugh are “credible and deeply disturbing,” and that she’ll continue to oppose the nominee.
Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old Democratic Socialist from New York who has become a favorite of the left nationwide, is in town for an unrelated event. Her campaign did not respond to a request for comment about the demonstration.
Flake — as well as Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving — are the main speakers at the Forbes event, which was moved from a smaller venue to City Hall because of security concerns after focus increased on Flake.
Flake’s office did not respond to a request for comment yesterday about what the retiring Arizona senator plans to say or whether he’ll address demonstrators.
Both Flake and Kasich, a moderate Republican who has spoken against confirming Kavanaugh, have publicly speculated about 2020 primary challenges to Trump. They will speak to the Forbes conference about the GOP’s future.