Pray tell, what argument might that be?

"While one could argue that a person who has twice lost a statewide judicial race ought not to be elevated to the federal bench, I doubt that argument will carry a great deal of weight with the senators or the White House," Esenberg said.

Considering the latter statewide judicial race* was financed with several million dollars worth of vociferous character assassination and resulted in an ongoing ethics investigation into the victor, I expect the argument might be a cinch to counter, whatever it is.

It's also debatable whether the move from a State's highest appellate court to a federal district trial court constitutes an "elevation."

* Attended by 19% of registered voters.