Trump Whacks At Tillis With Primary Threat For Voting Against ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’

President Donald Trump threatened on Saturday evening to support a primary challenger to Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) after the lawmaker voted against moving ahead with the “One Big, Beautiful Bill.”

The legislation, which is working its way through Congress through the reconciliation process, was stuck in limbo when Trump criticized Tillis. It has since passed that procedural hurdle.

“Numerous people have come forward wanting to run in the Primary against ‘Senator Thom’ Tillis,” Trump said in a post 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!”

Tillis, who is up for re-election in 2026 midterm elections, announced earlier that he could not support the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” in its current form after the Senate made changes to the legislation since it passed through the House a little more than a month ago.

“I will always do what is in the best interest of North Carolina, even when that puts me at odds with my own party. When Senate leaders of my party presented this bill, I did what every American should expect from their U.S. Senator: I worked to gather the facts and comprehensively analyze what the impact would be on the people I swore an oath to represent,” Tillis said a statement. “It would result in tens of billions of dollars in lost funding for North Carolina, including our hospitals and rural communities.”

“This will force the state to make painful decisions like eliminating Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands in the expansion population, and even reducing critical services for those in the traditional Medicaid population. We can and must do better than this. The Senate should return to the House’s Medicaid approach. That plan includes commonsense reforms to address waste, fraud, and abuse, and implements work requirements for some able-bodied adults to ensure taxpayer-funded benefits are going to our most vulnerable neighbors,” he added. “There is a lot for North Carolinians to love about the rest of the One Big Beautiful Bill, including extending the historic Trump Tax Cuts, increasing the child tax credit, providing historic funding for border security, and ending wasteful spending. We can and must accomplish this without hurting our rural communities and hospitals, and without jeopardizing access to care for hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who need it the most.”

Although Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) had also opposed proceeding with consideration of the bill along with the Democrats, Trump singled out Tillis liked he recently did with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) for criticizing the U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Johnson eventually came around changed his vote and the Senate was allowed to press ahead with the legislation. A final vote could happen in the upper chamber over the next few days.

“Looks like Senator Thom Tillis, as usual, wants to tell the Nation that he’s giving them a 68% Tax Increase, as opposed to the Biggest Tax Cut in American History! At the same time, he is unable to understand the importance of a Debt Extension, which Republicans gave to the Democrats just prior to the November 5th Election, because of its significance, and how important it was for the future of the U.S.A. Sadly, the Democrat Politicians probably won’t reciprocate on a Debt Extension because they’re nasty people who actually hate our Country. Tillis is also willing to throw the very important Tobacco Industry in North Carolina, ‘out the window,’ for reasons nobody seems to understand. He loves China made windmills that will cost a fortune, ruin the landscape, and produce the most expensive Energy on Earth,” Trump said in another Truth Social post.

“I can’t believe that the Great People of North Carolina, a State that I love and won all three times, and a State that I just brought back with money, blood, sweat, and tears, from the recent tragic floods, when Sleepy Joe Biden let them DROWN, right up until the end of that Administration, without doing anything — I was given an A+ Rating for the job we did in bringing it back, and Tillis, despite being a Republican, was MISSING IN ACTION — North Carolina will not allow one of their Senators to GRANDSTAND in order to get some publicity for himself, for a possible, but very difficult Re-Election,” Trump continued. “America wants Reduced Taxes, including NO TAX ON TIPS, NO TAX ON OVERTIME, AND NO TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY, Interest Deductions on Cars, Border Security, a Strong Military, and a Bill which is GREAT for our Farmers, Manufacturers and, Employment, in general. Thom Tillis is making a BIG MISTAKE for America, and the Wonderful People of North Carolina!”