U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis in stepping aside goes the way of other Republicans who have challenged Trump

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., walks to the chamber as senators arrive for votes and policy meetings, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON — Flake. Corker. Romney.

And now, Sen. Thom Tillis.

The roll call of Republican senators in the U.S. Congress who have called it quits, rather than endure a political career sideways with U.S. President Donald Trump, is long, notable -- and apparently, still growing.

Tillis, the GOP senator from North Carolina, announced his decision not to seek reelection Sunday, a stunning moment, given its timing.

It arrived a day after Trump trashed Tillis online, threatening to campaign against him, after the senator revealed he would oppose Trump’s big tax breaks bill because of its deep cuts to Medicaid that he warned would devastate his state.

“My goal is not to undermine the president,” Tillis told the Associated Press and others late Sunday night at the U.S. Capitol.

“But why not do it right? And why not take the time to make sure that we’re not going to have unintended consequences, which will also have, I think, substantial political consequences next year if we’re not careful.”

The senator, like others before him, has run up against the limits of his own perceived truth-telling, particularly when it goes against the views of the president or threatens the White House agenda.

A tough reelection became tougher

Tillis’ reelection in the Tar Heel State was already expected to be difficult, a $600 million campaign, he said he was told. Democrats see the state as a prime pick-up opportunity in next year’s elections as they try to flip the seat and retake majority control of the Senate from Republicans.

Turning 65 later this year, Tillis said he had been weighing his decision, and having put a cancer diagnosis behind him was charting the next phase of his life. A former House speaker in North Carolina, he noted he has been in office for some 20 years.

But Trump’s unchallenged grip on the party, and his singular ability to not only tank political careers but also deeply influence the views of Republican voters, leaves little room for dissent.

Most GOP senators who confronted Trump during his first term – Arizona’s Jeff Flake, Tennessee’s Bob Corker and Utah’s Mitt Romney, who was the only Republican to vote to convict Trump in both of his Senate impeachment trials – have long since stepped aside.

Tillis bristled at those comparisons.

“No, no, no. Look, I am an unlikely senator,” Tillis said.

He insisted, “I don’t like any of the trappings that many senators like up here. I like doing work. I like going home, and I like being with my family. That’s me.”

Tillis wants Trump to succeed

Tillis, as he walked back to his Senate office, told the story of living in a trailer park in Nashville as a teen with his family, before branching out on his own.

At about 16, he had been a cook at a roadside diner, “like a Denny’s,” he said, but found that the waiters made more money with tips, so he switched. He was grossing about $10,000 a year. Then he moved on to a warehouse job, earning about the same pay, and was able to move into the trailer of his own.

That’s one reason why he opposes Trump’s tax bill: he says it’s not the kind of relief the president is promising for working Americans. Take the president’s no tax on tips plan, he said.

“Thom Tillis the waiter gets a tax break. Thom Tills the warehouse worker doesn’t,” he said.

“Why can’t we figure out a way to give it to both of them versus something that catches an applause line in Las Vegas?”

Tillis went on, “I would love to have told the president this story. Instead of people getting gimmicky and targeting things — and not looking at the inherent unfairness of that policy and the additional billions of dollars we have to spend on that — which is forcing the Medicaid debate.”

He said, exasperated, “Folks, pull back.”

Trump and Tillis talk

Tillis did talk with Trump over the past several days. On Friday night he said he had a good call with the president and shared his concerns with the bill.

But once the president lashed out against him Saturday night, that was about it.

“I told the president after that post that it’d probably be a good time for him to start looking for replacements,” Tillis said

In a speech later Sunday, Tillis appeared somewhat liberated, free to publicly call the bill as he saw it, a betrayal of Trump’s promises.

“I’m telling the president that you have been misinformed: You supporting the Senate mark will hurt people who are eligible and qualified for Medicaid,” he thundered from the chamber floor.

Colleagues have been taking notice. Democrats in particular can’t help but remember another pivotal moment when Republicans were trying to cut health care and a single GOP senator stood up and said no.

Tillis, McCain and health care

Sen. John McCain famously voted thumbs down against the Republican plan to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, in a stunning setback during Trump’s first term in the summer of 2017.

Tillis brushed off that comparison, too.

“We’re gonna get the tax bill done,” he said.

But he said, the president has advisers that are “politically too cute by half, and they’re having fun while we’re having to implement suboptimal policy that will degrade the enormous impact and the legacy that this president could otherwise have.”

And as he heads for the exits next year, Tillis said “if they continue to do this, I’ll start spending some time focusing on just who those people are.“

Lisa Mascaro, The Associated Press