Confirmation hearings got underway Monday for President Donald Trump's pick for the Supreme Court just three weeks before the election - and Connecticut's senior senator is calling it a big mistake.

Democrats admit they don't have the votes to stop Amy Coney Barrett from getting on the Supreme Court. Sen. Richard Blumenthal appealed directly to voters, highlighting what he thinks is at stake - the Affordable Care Act.

During the first day of her confirmation hearing, Judge Amy Coney Barrett focused on her record.

"A judge must apply the law as it is written, not as she wishes it were," she says.

Democrats, though, focused on Obamacare. The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to it in one month.

Ridgefield resident Conner Curran, 10, suffers from muscular dystrophy. Curran's parents worry that changes to Obamacare's protections would strip him of coverage.

"The costs of providing Conner's care are astronomical," says Blumenthal. "It has shielded him and his family from arbitrary caps on coverage that would have cut off his care when it became too expensive."

Monday's hearing comes just three weeks before the election in spite of earlier promises to wait.

"If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump's term, and the primary process has started, we'll wait till the next election," said Sen. Lindsey Graham in 2018.

Republicans vowed to hold a vote on Barrett.

"A president serves four years not three. There's nothing unconstitutional about this process," said Graham on Monday.

Vice Presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris urged colleagues to wait, especially during a pandemic.

"If they succeed, it will result in millions of people losing access to health care at the worst possible time," she says.

Democrats are focusing on health care because polls show coronavirus is, by far, Americans' biggest concern.

Barrett begins taking questions Tuesday. Republicans are promising a full vote before Election Day.