--- title: Republican Governors Call for Delay on Brett Kavanaugh Vote description: Three Republican governors called for a delay on voting to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. canonical: https://time.com/5408593/republican-governors-brett-kavanaugh-voting/ author: Abby Vesoulis article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-27T18:07:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:34:11.907Z article:section: Politics og:title: 3 Republican Governors Call for Delay on Kavanaugh Vote og:description: Larry Hogan of Maryland, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and John Kasich of Ohio. og:url: https://time.com/5408593/republican-governors-brett-kavanaugh-voting/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fdda3ca8687eb1d/69893b38db29873ac8260cb0/ap18269200848236.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5472 og:image:height: 3078 og:image:alt: Brett Kavanaugh og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 3 Republican Governors Call for Delay on Kavanaugh Vote twitter:description: Larry Hogan of Maryland, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and John Kasich of Ohio. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fdda3ca8687eb1d/69893b38db29873ac8260cb0/ap18269200848236.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 3 Republican Governors Call for Delay on Kavanaugh Vote > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Abby Vesoulis](https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/)  ## Abby Vesoulis Sep 27, 2018 6:07 PM UTC  Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 6, 2018. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 6, 2018. Alex Brandon—AP  by [Abby Vesoulis](https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/)  ## Abby Vesoulis Sep 27, 2018 6:07 PM UTC Three Republican governors called for a delay on voting to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh so that a more thorough investigation could be completed on allegations of sexual assault. As California psychology professor [Christine Blasey Ford](http://time.com/5408177/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-testimony/) testified on Capitol Hill that Kavanaugh held her down, put his hands over her mouth and tried to take off her clothes, Govs. John Kasich of Ohio, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Larry Hogan of Maryland all said that the Senate should not rush to vote. The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to vote on Kavanaugh Friday morning in order to set up a vote by the full Senate within days. On Tuesday, Hogan, who is running for re-election in a blue state, said Ford’s allegations need to be investigated thoroughly. “There are credible charges and big concerns. They need to be heard,” Hogan [said](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/27/kavanaugh-governors-847804). “They ought to take whatever time it takes to make sure these accusers are heard and he has a chance to respond to them.” On Wednesday night, Kasich, who is nearing the end of his second term and ineligible to run for a third, and by some accounts, is mulling a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2020, issued a [statement](https://twitter.com/JohnKasich/status/1045061584786264064) calling for the vote to be postponed. “Given the questions and allegations surrounding Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination — and the higher standards demanded for a lifetime appointment — the United States Senate should not rush to confirm him,” he said. “In the absence of a complete and thorough investigation, and hearing from all parties involved, moving this nomination forward would be a mistake.” On Thursday morning, shortly before Ford began testifying, Baker argued that there should be no vote in the Senate. Baker is currently running for re-election. “The accusations brought against Judge Kavanaugh are sickening and deserve an independent investigation,” he said in a [tweet](https://twitter.com/MassGovernor/status/1045314459642810370) on Thursday. > [](https://twitter.com/MassGovernor/status/1045314459642810370) Meantime, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan, also approaching the end of his second and final term, said the threats Ford faced could deter other women who have similar stories from contacting authorities, saying it was [“not appropriate”](https://apnews.com/7ba425f1129d4702ac9bf75c0970a69b) at a summit on sexual assault at Western Michigan University. In late July, 31 GOP governors [signed a letter](https://newschannel9.com/news/nation-world/hogan-one-of-4-gop-governors-declining-to-sign-letter-backing-kavanaugh) asking that senators move “expeditiously to confirm” Kavanaugh. Only four sitting Republican governors did not sign the original letter: Baker, Hogan and Govs. Phil Scott of Vermont and Bruce Rauner of Illinois. Later, [Rauner asked](https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/illinois-governor-bruce-rauner-no-sign-letter-support-brett-kavanaugh-trump-supreme-court-nominee/) that his name be added to the list urging senators to confirm Kavanaugh. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5408593/republican-governors-brett-kavanaugh-voting/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5408593/republican-governors-brett-kavanaugh-voting/"},"headline":"3 Republican Governors Call for Delay on Kavanaugh Vote","datePublished":"2018-09-27T18:07:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:34:11.907Z","description":"Three Republican governors called for a delay on voting to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.","url":"https://time.com/5408593/republican-governors-brett-kavanaugh-voting/","keywords":["Congress","Supreme Court","justice","Brett Kavanaugh"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fdda3ca8687eb1d/69893b38db29873ac8260cb0/ap18269200848236.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abby Vesoulis","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fdda3ca8687eb1d/69893b38db29873ac8260cb0/ap18269200848236.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Brett Kavanaugh","caption":"Brett Kavanaugh","creditText":"Alex Brandon—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5408593/republican-governors-brett-kavanaugh-voting/","name":"3 Republican Governors Call for Delay on Kavanaugh Vote"}}]}] ```