Thom Tillis Unchained— North Carolina In Play... All Thanks To Trump's Inability To Control Himself

Trump Plans To Pick Members Of Congress For Kentucky & North Carolina

Trump will be interviewing Kentucky state Sen. Aaron Reed in the coming weeks to determine if he’s the candidate he wants to run against Thomas Massie next year. Politico reported that “Massie— who previously endorsed Reed for state Senate, and whom Reed in return had called ‘one of America’s greatest Congressmen’— did not immediately return a request for comment. Reed, a former Navy SEAL, was first elected to the Kentucky state house last year.”

Trump doesn’t have to interview anyone lining up to replace Thom Tillis. He wants to give his daughter-in-law, Lara, the job. He tried getting her the Florida Senate seat when Rubio left it for the State Department but Ron DeSantis wouldn’t cooperate. Still, after Tillis’ shocking “I’m not running again” announcement yesterday, a number of North Carolina Republicans have stepped forward to replace him. Ally Mutnick, Andrew Desiderio and Max Cohen reported that though the decision will be Trump’s in the end, RNC Chair Michael Whatley, NRCC Chair Richard Hudson and Rep. Pat Harrigan, state Rep. Tim Moore, ex-Rep George Holding and state Rep Addison McDowell, all firmly MAGA-aligned, are all contenders.

Tillis wouldn’t say on Sunday whether he plans to endorse a candidate to succeed him, saying it depends on who runs. Tillis said he suspects Trump will endorse a candidate and that the party will get behind that person.

But Tillis warned Trump not to make the same mistake he did with Mark Robinson, the scandal-plagued GOP nominee for governor in 2024.

“I just really hope [Trump] has some discernment because obviously Mark Robinson was a bad pick,” Tillis told reporters. “It’s a statewide race. You’ve got to have a good, solid candidate who runs on the basis of their body of work.”

Democrats are salivating at the prospect of running a top recruit against an untested GOP candidate.

Former Gov. Roy Cooper remains the party’s biggest hope, but Cooper isn’t in the race yet.

So now it isn’t just Mitch McConnell with a personal animus towards Trump— and no reason to bend the knee like the rest of the Senate Republicans— who has a year and a half to screw him. Tillis has been around politics for a very long time and I have no doubt he will take his revenge, starting with the Big Ugly Bill. Tillis didn’t just vote against the Big Ugly Bill last night he got up on the Senate floor to denounce it, slamming “the GOP’s plans for drastic Medicaid cuts— warning Republicans they are about to ‘make a mistake on health care and betray a promise’ if their sprawling domestic policy bill passes. ‘It is inescapable this bill will betray the promise Donald Trump made,’ Tillis said. ‘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 said 663,000 North Carolinians will be kicked off their healthcare plans if the bill passes. ‘I respect President Trump, I support the majority of his agenda, but I don’t bow to anybody when the people of North Carolina are at risk, and this puts them at risk,’ Tillis told reporters after he left the floor.”

Eric & Lara Trump

If you think a Democrat can’t win statewide in North Carolina, consider these races, all on days that Trump was on the ballot and won the state:

Governor, 2016

• Roy Cooper (D)- 2,309,157 (49.02%)

• Pat McCrory (R, incumbent)- 2,298,880 (48.80%)

Governor, 2020

• Roy Cooper (D)- 2,834,790 (51.52%)

• Dan Forest (R)- 2,586,605 (47.01%)

Governor, 2024

• Josh Stein (D)- 3,069,496 (54.90%)

• Mark Robinson (R)- 2,241,309 (40.08%)

Meanwhile, this is what Trump does to Republicans who try to think independently and serve the interests of their constituents instead of serving him. This ad is already running in northern Kentucky: