WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Sunday he will not seek reelection next year, a day after announcing his opposition to President Donald Trump’s tax breaks and spending cuts package because of its reductions to health care programs.
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.
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Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Joey Cappelletti in Washington and Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
