We do want to confirm a Justice now cause you never know what could happen in an election. But having it be an issue in the election is definitely in OUR benefit not the rats. It puts immense pressure on the likes of Manchin and Donnelly.
Trump called in Heitcamp and Donnelly (and I think one other D, thought I don’t know if it’s Manchin) for discussions. I think it went something like this:
“Joe/Heidi/Joe, if you vote for my USSC pick, I promise not to personally campaign against you this season.”
Now, several of these Ds voted for Kavanaugh, Kethledge, and Thapar for their current positions. I think Barrett got the fewest D crossovers.
If we don’t get a confirmation vote before the election, Manchin, et al. will lie about how they will vote to confirm a conservative nominee, and then (win or lose) vote against them because they’d be either lame ducks or their seats will not be up for another six years. We need to get the confirmation vote now, get that seat in our column, and the Blue Frauds will get to pick their poison as to whether to vote for or against the nominee; and conservatives still will be extremely motivated to vote on the judges issue because (i) our side will have delivered on a promise, proving that voting matters and that there are differences between the parties and (ii) Ginsburg is 83 and Breyer is about to turn 80 so there likely will be SCOTUS confirmation battles to come over the next six years.
While iti is true that liberals also will be motivated to vote, there are fewer liberals than conservatives in every single competitive Senate seat up in 2018 (unless one considers NJ competitive). Confirming a conservative Justice will help us increase our majority in the Senate.