Tillis is out. Medicaid cuts are in. What does this mean for North Carolina?

GOVERNMENT

By Thomas Hicks
Guest Columnist

WASHINGTON, DC – This past Sunday, two-term Republican Senator Thom Tillis announced that he would not be seeking reelection. In a statement released by his office, he said, “It’s not a hard choice.”

This move is likely brought on by the current political landscape and Tillis has often caught flak from his fellow members of the GOP for holding more moderate views or going against the grain. In this increasingly tense and polarized political landscape, it has not been well-received by the right.

The Senator even faced censure from the North Carolina GOP in 2023 for his take on the Same-Sex Marriage act when he said the bill gave, “Permanent certainty for same-sex couples while ensuring robust protections for churches and religious organizations.”

Just a few days ago, Tillis came out against Trump’s hallmark budget plan, “the big, beautiful bill,” and was properly thrashed by the GOP. President Trump posted on his own social media network, Truth Social, “Tillis is a talker and complainer, NOT A DOER! He’s even worse than Rand “Fauci” Paul!”

Republican Senators Rand Paul and Susan Collins of Maine were the other two Republicans to split from the mainline party in yesterday’s Senate vote, which was tied 50-50. Vice President JD Vance broke the tie to advance the newest addition of the bill back to the House for review.

Tillis has about a year and a half left in his term and looks forward to focusing on policy. His statement reads:

“I look forward to solely focusing on producing meaningful results without the distraction of raising money or campaigning for another election. I look forward to having the pure freedom to call the balls and strikes as I see fit and representing the great people of North Carolina to the best of my ability.”

Perhaps Tillis’ most significant gripe with the bill proposal was its cuts to Medicaid. Tillis’ worry was that this would have a dramatic impact on his constituents. According to the most recent data from the North Carolina state government, 2,978,559 North Carolinians are enrolled in Medicaid.

Tillis won by a slim margin in his last race, where he beat out Democratic opposition Cal Cunningham by only a thin margin of roughly 100,000 votes.

North Carolina has elected more Republicans to its state legislature and to Congress than democrats in recent years, but has elected a democrat for governor in three straight elections. With Tillis having only won by a narrow margin in 2020, North Carolina may have a Democrat in the Senate for the first time since Tillis ousted Kay Hagan from the incumbent seat in 2014, when Tillis won by roughly 50,000 votes.

Now, with the prospective federal cuts to North Carolina citizens’ Medicaid orchestrated by Republicans in addition to Tillis leaving office, the tides could turn in 2026. It will surely be an interesting election cycle.