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Sen. Thom Tillis, one of the two Republicans to vote against advancing President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” plans to retire from the Senate at the end of his term.
The North Carolina Republican announced on Sunday that he would not seek reelection in the 2026 cycle. Tillis would have been among the most vulnerable Republicans running next year, and faced threats from Trump to find a challenger after his vote against the president’s agenda Saturday night.
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The lawmaker voted against advancing the bill, and is likely to vote against final passage, because deep Medicaid cuts inside the colossal bill brought on the changes to the Medicaid provider tax rate.
Tillis railed against the slow death of bipartisanship in Washington in a statement.
“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.
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Tills gave a shout-out to former Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for their unwillingness to not “cave to their party bosses to nuke the filibuster for the sake of political expediency.”
“They ultimately retired and their presence in the Senate chamber has been sorely missed every day since,” he said.
“It underscores the greatest form of hypocrisy in American politics. When people see independent thinking on the other side, they cheer,” he continued. “But when those very same people see independent thinking coming from their side, they scorn, ostracize, and even censure them.”
He said that the choice broke down to spending time with his family, or spending another six years in Washington navigating the “the political theatre and partisan gridlock.”
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“It’s not a hard choice, and I will not be seeking re-election,” he said.
His decision to retire tees up what will likely be a competitive race in North Carolina, and ones that Democrats will look to pounce on quickly.
It also comes after Trump spent much of Saturday evening, while Vice President JD Vance, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and his leadership team worked over holdout fiscal hawks, blasting Tillis as a “grandstander” and vowing to interview potential primary challengers.
“Numerous people have come forward wanting to run in the Primary against ‘Senator Thom’ Tillis,” Trump said on Truth Social. “I will be meeting with them over the coming weeks, looking for someone who will properly represent the Great People of North Carolina and, so importantly, the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
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