Sunday, June 29, 2025

Thom Tillis Out!

Thom Tillis bows out after Trump threatens a primary challenge against him.

Republicans are fleeing too.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) won't seek reelection. He is fearing the recent election in the city of Omaha, Nebraska opened up a path for Democrats. 

The former Republican Omaha mayor Jean Stothert will likely run for the seat.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) announce he will not seek reelection. After voting against the Big Beautiful Bill, President Donald J. Trump vows to endorse primary challengers against Tillis, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).

Tillis, a conservative but usually a swing in the Senate helped pass the Biden infrastructure law and confirmed almost every cabinet member in the Trump second term. A survivor of a stroke and prostate cancer, Tillis rejected the bills cuts to the safety net.

His decision will create a political opportunity for Democrats seeking to bolster their numbers in the 2026 midterm elections, opening a seat in a state that has long been a contested battleground. Republicans hold a 53-47 edge in the Senate.

Tillis, who would have been up for a third term, said he was proud of his career in public service but acknowledged the difficult political environment for those who buck their party and go it alone.

“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,” he said in a lengthy statement.

“Sometimes those bipartisan initiatives got me into trouble with my own party, but I wouldn’t have changed a single one.”

Trump, in social posts, had berated Tillis for being one of two Republican senators who voted on Saturday night against advancing the massive bill.

The Republican president accused Tillis of seeking publicity with his “no” vote and threatened to campaign against him. The Republican president also accused Tillis off doing nothing to help his constituents after last year’s devastating floods.

“Tillis is a talker and complainer, NOT A DOER,” Trump wrote.

Tillis rose to prominence in North Carolina when, as a second-term state House member, he quit his IBM consultant job and led the GOP’s recruitment and fundraising efforts in the chamber for the 2010 elections. Republicans won majorities in the House and Senate for the first time in 140 years.

Tillis was later elected as state House speaker and helped enact conservative policies on taxes, gun rights, regulations and abortion while serving in the role for four years. He also helped push a state constitutional referendum to ban gay marriage, which was approved by voters in 2012 but was ultimately struck down by the courts as unconstitutional.

In 2014, Tillis helped flip control of the U.S. Senate to the GOP after narrowly defeating Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan.

Hagan had a massive stroke from Powassan disease which left her paralyzed. She passed away in 2019 at the age of 66.

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