Senator Steve Daines, Republican of Montana, probably won’t be needed to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, but he’s ready to leave his daughter’s Big Sky wedding if necessary.
WASHINGTON — Sending their regrets to the senator, the wedding guests hand-scrawled an explanation of the conflict preventing them from attending: “Same day as our female cattle sale.”
“You know your daughter is having a Montana wedding when,” Senator Steve Daines joked earlier this month on Instagram, posting a photo of the returned invitation engraved with gilded cornstalks.
Now, Mr. Daines, the Republican from Montana, has a conflict of his own: He may be pulled away from his duties as father of the bride at his eldest daughter Annie’s rural Montana wedding to cast a vote 1,800 miles to send Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
“By the end of this weekend,” he told reporters, “I will have walked my daughter down the aisle and we will have a new Supreme Court justice.”
The timing of the vote adds yet another twist to a grueling, often vicious confirmation fight. It looked unlikely as of Friday afternoon that Mr. Daines would be needed to ensure Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation after two undecided Republicans, Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, and one Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, announced their intent to vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh.
But in a sign of how cautiously Republicans are approaching the next 24 hours, a spokesman for Mr. Daines confirmed Friday afternoon that he will be monitoring the vote over the weekend, and will remain at the ready in case his vote is needed.
In a call late last night at his desk here in Washington, Mr. Daines, who has supported Mr. Kavanaugh’s nomination from the beginning, personally told the judge that if it is necessary, he would not refuse the request to travel for the vote on the day of his daughter’s wedding. Even if he is not needed, he has indicated he wants to cast his vote.
In order for Mr. Daines to do so, Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, would have to hold the floor vote open — potentially for several hours — to allow Mr. Daines to fly back to the Capitol and cast his vote late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
That task may be made easier thanks to Representative Greg Gianforte, also a Republican of Montana and one of the wealthiest members of Congress, who has offered up his private jet to whisk Mr. Daines away from the wedding and to Washington.
“If Greg’s good friend, Steve Daines, can participate in his daughter’s wedding and ensure Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed to the Supreme Court, Greg is happy to help for the sake of family and country,” Travis Hall, a spokesman for Mr. Gianforte, said in a statement. (Mr. Gianforte and his wife were invited to the wedding and hope to attend, but they have a conflict of their own: He has a debate scheduled that day against the Democrat hoping to unseat him next month.)
Ms. Daines, 27, a graduate of her father’s alma mater, Montana State University, frequently makes cameos on her father’s social media, appearing in campaign ads, alongside him at Washington events, and at home on their ranch, hunting and riding horses.
She will wed Brad Moss at Manhattan Christian Reformed Church, according to an announcement on the bridal website The Knot, in a 120-year-old building once described as “the largest rural church west of the Mississippi River.”
Mr. Moss is the founder of Shop Dog Industries, a company based in Bozeman, Mont., that creates agriculture machinery implements. He proposed in April, according to a Facebook post.
