Ohio’s senators take opposite positions,

Senators looked at new FBI report on judge before vote.

Sen. Rob Portman voted Friday to clear the way for a floor vote Saturday on whether to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, while Sen. Sherrod Brown voted to block the nomination.

By a vote of 51-to-49, the Senate agreed to a procedural motion to continue floor debate on Kavanaugh.

The vote took place one day after Portman, Brown and other senators reviewed a confidential series of FBI interviews on whether Kavanaugh assaulted a woman in 1982 when both were teens.

In a statement after the vote, Portman, R-Ohio, said he has known Kavanaugh for 18 years and described him “as a fair, smart and independent judge, and he has the qualifications and experience necessary to ably serve on the Supreme Court.”

Portman said he “reviewed the supplemental FBI report three times to ensure I was fully briefed on its findings. As I’ve said previously, my job is to assess the facts before us and the fact remains that no evidence exists to support the allegations made against Judge Kavanaugh.”

Brown, D-Ohio, spent an hour Thursday evening reading through the FBI interviews of 10 people — one woman who claimed Kavanaugh engaged in sexual misconduct against her while they were students at Yale.

After reading the report, Brown said he “strongly supported a thorough investigation and I believe the FBI should have been allowed to do its job without political pressure or restrictions.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska was the only Republican to vote against Kavanaugh while Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia was the only Democrat to support Kavanaugh.

In a floor speech Thursday evening, Portman warned that the vitriolic confirmation hearings would discourage Americans from entering public service.

“How many good public servants have we possibly already turned away by this display?” Portman asked. “How many more will we turn away if we let uncorroborated allegations tarnish the career of a person who has dedicated 25 of the past 28 years to public service?”

Earlier in the week, Portman defended Kavanaugh’s emotional testimony last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying, “He was upset, and I think that’s understandable given the accusations that he has faced. He strongly believes that he was falsely accused of horrendous behavior and with regards to the latest allegations, horrific crimes.”