North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis said He will not seek re -election after a primary threat of President Donald Trump.
“As many of my colleagues have noticed during the last year, and sometimes they even joke about it, I have not been very excited to introduce myself to another mandate“, Said the Republican on Sunday.” It is not a difficult decision, and I will not look for re -election. “
Tillis was one of the most vulnerable senators in search of re -election in 2026. The decision could help Senate Democrats in their arduous struggle to turn the Senate in the mid -period elections of 2026.
Democratic senator Alex Padilla, from California, said the seat is an excellent opportunity to win. “Was among the priorities even before his ad“He declared in an interview.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, who presides over the campaign arm of the Republican Party in the Senate, said that He expects the seat to remain in Republican hands.
“President Trump has won North Carolina three times, and the State has been represented by two Republican senators for more than a decade,” Scott said in a statement, which did not mention Tillis. “That streak will continue in 2026”
Decisive vote
On Saturday, Tillis voted against advancing with the Trump Tax and Expenses Law Projectwhich caused the anger of the president.
Trump In social networks he called Tillis “A talkative and complainant, not a maker! “He blamed the senator for the slow response to catastrophic floods and said he was talking with several candidates to launch a candidacy for republican primaries.
Tillis has said that he would vote against approving Trump’s tax and expenses bill, citing cuts to Medicaid already The subsidies to renewable energies that, according to him, would damage their voters and limit employment in their state.
Tillis’s decision not to seek re -election could increase problems for the tax bill currently processed in the Senate. Republicans can only afford to lose three votes to approve. Senators plan to vote on the bill on Monday.
Trump’s daughter -in -law, Lara Trump, has flirted in the past with the idea of running for the Senate for North Carolina. Tillis was first chosen for the Senate in 2014.
