Tillis will not seek reelection amid tensions with Trump

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., announced he will not run for reelection in 2026, after his opposition to steep Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s signature bill – and Trump’s subsequent attacks on him – raised alarms among GOP leaders about his viability for re-election next year.

“Too many elected officials are motivated by pure raw politics who really don’t give a damn about the people they promised to represent on the campaign trail,” Tillis said. He said choosing to spend more time with family is “not a hard choice, and I will not be seeking re-election.”

It was a quick end to a brutal 24 hours. The president floated backing a primary challenger to the North Carolina GOP senator on Saturday after Tillis voted against advancing Trump’s tax and spending cuts bill, which is loaded up with steeper cuts to Medicaid than the House’s version. Trump continued attacking Tillis on Sunday morning, calling him a “talker and complainer” — all unwelcome developments in one of the toughest congressional races in the country next year.

Tillis was already leaning against running and was planning to make a decision in the late summer, but when he reviewed the ramifications of the Senate’s Medicaid cuts he concluded they would have a “devastating impact” on his state, according to a person close to him.

He viewed the Senate bill as a test case for a potential reelection campaign: Whether he’d be able to flex his independence from Trump and whether Republicans would have his back on key policy decisions. The Senate GOP’s decision to move forward with its Medicaid cuts and Trump’s subsequent attacks helped make the decision for him, the person said.

The White House and Senate leaders urged Tillis to keep his concerns about the bill private rather than take them public, said an operative close to GOP leadership, who called Tillis’ vote on Saturday night “the final blow and worried that “the North Carolina race may prove more difficult with Tillis as the candidate,” this person said.

Because of Trump’s success in the state, the operative added, many Republicans “believe a credible Trump-backed candidate not only wins the primary without significant expense, but also gives Republicans a better chance to turn out a winning coalition in November.”

Tillis has said he could ultimately support the bill if it jettisons the Senate’s aggressive cuts and returns to the House’s level of cutbacks to the program. Yet it grew too awkward for the party and Tillis, who unseated an incumbent Democrat in 2014 before fending off a very tough challenge in 2020.

TIllis said on Sunday he looks “forward to having the pure freedom to call the balls and strikes as I see fit and representing the great people of North Carolina to the best of my ability.”

Tillis might have been a stronger general-election candidate in his purple state than a Trump-inspired challenger. But Trump’s attacks were making the senator’s chances of winning a GOP primary very difficult, putting his seat at greater risk.

Tillis gave the White House and GOP leaders ample warning of his worries that the bill could create untenable political and policy consequences in his state. He’d previously aired serious public concerns about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s nomination before eventually voting yes as Trump ramped up the pressure.

But it became clear that his relationship with the Trump White House might not be able to survive a vote against the president’s tax bill on final passage.

“Tillis hasn’t said he’s not going to vote for the final product. And maybe he still does,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio.

Moreno added that the only way to hold the seat is to keep the party unified after any potential primary in North Carolina: “When the party is divided, we lose.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee declined to comment about Tillis viability earlier Sunday. After his announcement, NRSC Chair Tim Scott said the party’s winning streak in the state’s Senate races “will continue in 2026 when North Carolinians elect a conservative leader committed to advancing an agenda of opportunity, prosperity, and security.”