Sen. Thom Tillis, a two-term North Carolina Republican who was expected to contest one of 2026’s toughest Senate races, tried to walk a fine line between President Donald Trump and his purple-state electorate.
It backfired spectacularly over the weekend, with Tillis announcing Sunday that he would not seek re-election less than a day after Trump publicly attacked him for voting “no” to advance his “big, beautiful bill.”
“In Washington over the last few years, it’s become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species,“ Tillis said in a statement announcing his decision.
Tillis added that it was “not a hard choice” between spending time with family or committing to another “six years in the political theatre and partisan gridlock in Washington.”
“As many of my colleagues have noticed over the last year, and at times even joked about, I haven’t exactly been excited about running for another term,” Tillis said.
While Trump’s Truth Social attacks might have accelerated Tillis’ announcement — Trump called him, among other things, “a talker and complainer, NOT A DOER!” — he had already shown ambivalence about his ability to win re-election while squarely backing Trump’s agenda.
He privately warned colleagues in a Senate Republican lunch last week that the megabill’s approach to Medicaid would cause him to lose his race next year, remarks first reported by POLITICO. GOP colleagues chalked up Tillis’ private warnings to his fears of a tough general election in the swing state, where popular former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper could be a formidable candidate.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tillis gave him a heads-up he would retire: “It’s unfortunate, and it’s something he’s been thinking about for a while and he just finally decided that was the best decision for him and his family,” he told POLITICO.
In a different era for Republicans, an incumbent who had eked out a pair of close elections would be given grace to break with his party on occasion. During President Joe Biden’s presidency, Tillis joined with Democrats to pass a major infrastructure bill and a modest package of gun control measures. More recently he raised sharp questions about the nomination of Pete Hegseth as Defense secretary before ultimately supporting him, then effectively vetoed one of Trump’s Justice Department picks
But Tillis came under withering pressure to fall in line on the megabill despite publicly airing severe reservations with the bill’s approach to clean-energy tax credits as well as Medicaid.
In an 11th-hour phone call with Trump Friday, the president leaned hard on him to change course, according to a person granted anonymity to share details of the private conversation. But after warning for days that he could not support the Senate bill unless its Medicaid language drastically changed, Tillis followed through on his threat and joined Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky as the only Republicans voting against opening up debate on the bill.
But it was Trump’s public attacks that had Republicans privately preparing for Tillis to imminently announce his retirement.
In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump said that “numerous people have come forward” wanting to primary Tillis and that he would be “meeting with them over the coming weeks.” In a follow-up post Sunday, Trump said Tillis had “hurt the great people of North Carolina.”
Four people granted anonymity to disclose private discussions told POLITICO shortly before his office announced his plans that Tillis was expected to announce his retirement as soon as Sunday.
Tillis’ retirement sets up what could be a wild and crowded GOP primary in the Tar Heel State.
Rep. Pat Harrigan is viewed as a potential contender and is close with Trump and his orbit; Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, is also considering a run, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss her deliberations. Many GOP insiders believe a fresh candidate without Tillis’ bipartisan baggage will have a better chance to unite Republicans and win a general election.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, noted that Republicans have held the state’s two Senate seats for over a decade and “that streak will continue in 2026 when North Carolinians elect a conservative leader committed to advancing an agenda of opportunity, prosperity, and security.”
The Senate Democratic campaign arm immediately predicted that they would flip the seat, which is viewed as one of their top campaign targets and noting that some polls have had Tillis underwater already.
On the Democratic side, former Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.), who’s running for Senate, said in a statement he was ready to take on whichever Republican succeeded Tillis. But many Democrats have been watching former Gov. Roy Cooper, who has been circumspect about his intentions to run for Senate and is expected to make a decision this summer.
Rachael Bade, Nicholas Wu and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
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