Several groups came together in Boston Friday to protest after learning Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was sticking with her party and voting in favor on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
"I am disappointed, but completely unsurprised," said Reidan Fredstrom of Somerville, Massachusetts.
The disappointment was clear for the couple hundred people holding signs and chanting as they gathered at the Massachusetts State House, hoping to send a last-minute message to senators about Kavanaugh.
"I am concerned that he is partisan," said Laura Bethard of Boston's Allston neighborhood. "I am concerned that he is undervetted."
"His temperament. It is not what I am looking for in the Supreme Court of our land. I'm looking for level-headedness, calm, kind," added Nina Lytton of Beacon Hill.
Presidential historian Tom Whalen of Boston University says the decision by Collins shows she is more right of center than most people think, and the showdown over the judge is an indication the country is moving more to the right.
"You're going to have a conservative majority in the Supreme Court, and that's going to have all sorts of ramifications moving forward," said Whalen. "Culturally, politically and economically."
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In Washington, Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts said there could still be a surprise in the expected vote count.
"I think events could still change over the next 24 hours," said Sen. Markey. "This has been a volatile nomination process."
