(The Center Square) North Carolina’s senior senator says he is done with the partisan gridlock of Washington and will not seek reelection in the 2026 midterms.
“It’s not a hard choice,” the statement of U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., early Sunday afternoon said.
Considered a moderate Republican, he was the target of the ever-mercurial president overnight when he was one of two holdouts advancing the reconciliation bill to debate in the Senate. Tillis, 64, cited the projected cost of $32 billion via Medicaid that would fall to the state budget for rural hospitals and communities back home.
Good. After what Thom Tillis did to Ed Martin my mind was made up.
North Carolina needs to take out this piece of trash. pic.twitter.com/360K1Ckc6L
— Shawn Farash (@Shawn_Farash) June 29, 2025
His flare-ups with President Donald Trump go back to the Floridian’s first term. His two Senate terms included a 48.6%-46.9% triumph over Democrat Cal Cunningham five years ago and a 48.8%-47.3% win over then-incumbent and the late Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan in 2014.
Hagan, 17 years ago, was the last Democrat to win a Senate seat from what is now the nation’s ninth largest state (11 million population) with independent voters (nearly 38%) the largest bloc. Former Sen. Richard Burr (2010, 2016), Sen. Ted Budd (2022) and Tillis are 5-0 since.
Tillis, 9-0 in 23 years of political elections, late Saturday night cast one of two votes against the advance of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, known also as House Resolution 1. Trump jabbed him on social media saying he would seek a primary opponent, though such speculation was hardly new. Tillis’ campaign has $5.6 million cash on hand.
In a published statement, Tillis said, “The choice is between spending another six years navigating the political theater and partisan gridlock in Washington or spending that time with the love my life, Susan, our two children, three beautiful grandchildren, and the rest of our extended family back home.”
Thom and Susan Tillis celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary on Saturday.
Tillis was elected to the town of Cornelius’ park board in 2002, town commissioners in 2003, and defeated incumbent John Rhodes in the 2006 Republican primary on the way to a seat in the North Carolina House of Representatives.
In 2010, with redistricting maps drawn and favoring Democrats, Republicans won both chambers of the General Assembly for the first time in 140 years – since Reconstruction and the Civil War. Tillis was elected speaker of the House and stayed in the role until beating Hagan in 2014.
The 2010 midterms upheaval in the Legislature changed the directory of the state. The budget deficit then was between $800 million and $1.2 billion, and the turnaround of roughly $6 billion since sent the state’s surplus to more than $5 billion prior to Hurricane Helene.
State budget writers this summer are trying to appropriate more aid for western North Carolina while still replenishing what is colloquially called the rainy day fund.
Becoming a more business friendly state began while Tillis was at the helm of the House and Sen. Phil Berger led the Senate. The state regularly ranks among the best in a myriad of rankings, inclusive of nonprofit nonpartisan tax watch organizations, media outlets such as left-leaning CNBC, and business journals.
Republicans have 53 seats in the Senate, Democrats 45 and two are with independents caucusing with the Democrats. The seats of Tillis and Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins are already consensus most vulnerable to change within the party or even to be flipped blue.
Former Democratic U.S. Rep Wiley Nickel is a candidate for the seat. Former Gov. Roy Cooper, himself with a 13-0 political record inclusive of time in the state House, Senate and governor’s mansion, has been noncommittal to significant speculation.
Berger, 72, has name recognition and accomplishments should he choose to run. He was minority leader of the Senate from 2005 through 2010 and has led the chamber since Jan. 26, 2011.
Elsewhere, 10 Republicans from North Carolina are in the U.S. House led in tenure by 81-year-old Virginia Foxx (first elected 2004) and 53-year-old David Rouzer (2014). Freshmen Reps. Addison McDowell, 31, and Pat Harrigan, 38, are considered fiercely loyal to Trump. Fellow freshman Rep. Tim Moore, 54, set a record with five terms as state House speaker.
Republicans with less name appeal include Brooks Agnew, Don Brown and Andy Nilsson.
Viewed for now as longshots albeit with name recognition are Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law born in Wilmington, and Mark Robinson, the embattled former lieutenant governor and loser by more than 10% to Gov. Josh Stein last November.
A statement from South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Republican Senatorial Committee chairman, on Sunday said, “President Trump has won North Carolina three times, and the state’s been represented by two Republican senators for over a decade. That streak will continue in 2026 when North Carolinians elect a conservative leader committed to advancing an agenda of opportunity, prosperity and security.”
