COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – An effort by liberal groups to pressure Republicans to allow Senate consideration of President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee got off to a modest start Monday as small groups of demonstraters rallied outside lawmakers’ offices around the country. A bigger election-year battle ramped up as both sides brought their viewpoints to television, social media and supporters’ email inboxes.
Five days after Obama tabbed federal appeals court Judge Merrick Garland for the vacant seat, about 25 people appeared outside the Columbus, Ohio, office of GOP Sen. Rob Portman, who is backing Republican leaders’ insistence on awaiting the pick of whoever is elected president in November. Some carried signs saying “#DoYourJob,” a battle cry of Senate Democrats aimed at their GOP colleagues, and “#FillTheSeat.”
“The idea that they need to wait until the people have spoken, well, the people already did speak,” said Barbara Eakins, 70, an Ohio State University retiree. “They spoke when they elected Obama to office twice.”
Similar-sized crowds were observed at rallies in Austin, Texas; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Des Moines, Iowa, respectively targeting GOP Sens. John Cornyn, Ron Johnson, Pat Toomey and Charles Grassley.
Above the Austin rally, a plane circled briefly pulling a red “Fill the Seat” banner. Cornyn is the No. 2 Senate GOP leader while Johnson, Toomey and Grassley face re-election this fall.