Is Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., trying to sabotage his 2026 reelection bid? It’s a question worth asking when considering that the Tarheel State’s senior senator seems to be doing everything in his power to betray his constituents ahead of next year’s primary.
While speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Tillis, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, formally announced his opposition to the nomination of Ed Martin to serve as the next U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. With a 12-10 Republican majority on the committee, Tillis’ opposition likely nullifies the body’s ability to favorably move Martin’s nomination to the full Senate for final confirmation.
As The Federalist reported, Martin was tapped by President Trump to serve as interim attorney for the D.C. office shortly after the latter’s Jan. 20 inauguration and was subsequently nominated to fill the position permanently in February. Since taking office, Martin has been focused on restoring accountability and transparency to the Department of Justice, which has included probes into intel officials’ involvement in the Trump-Russia collusion hoax and prosecutions of Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol demonstrators.
In his Tuesday remarks, Tillis said he doesn’t expect Martin “to be advanced to the [Judiciary Committee’s] markup,” and that, “at this point, [he’s] indicated to the White House [he] wouldn’t support [Martin’s] nomination.” The Republican senator indicated that “most” of his opposition to Martin stems from “concerns” he has about the acting U.S. attorney’s stance on Jan. 6.
“He built a compelling case on some of the 15 [or] 12 prosecutions that were probably heat-of-the-moment bad decisions. But where we probably have a difference [of opinion] is I think anybody that breached the perimeter [of the Capitol] should have been in prison for some period of time,” Tillis said. “Whether it’s 30 days or three years is debatable, but I have no tolerance for anybody who entered the building on January the 6th, and that’s probably where most of the friction was.”
While Tillis acknowledged that Martin is “probably right” about there being demonstrators who were “overprosecuted” by the Biden administration for their conduct, he seemingly couldn’t help himself from gifting the leftist media the soundbites they were clearly looking for.
“We have to be very, very clear that what happened on January the 6th was wrong. … It was not prompted or created by other people to put those people in trouble. They made a stupid decision, and they disgraced the United States by absolutely destroying the Capitol,” Tillis said. “If Mr. Martin were being put forward as a U.S. attorney for any district except the district where … the protest happened, I’d probably support him. But not in this district.”
So, according to his own words, Tillis could summon the courage to vote for Martin if he were nominated for any other district attorney position except the one in D.C. But even if that were the case, it wouldn’t change Martin’s past comments about Jan. 6, which makes Tillis’ excuse completely nonsensical.
Then again, it’s not surprising Tillis would go out of his way to try and tank a Trump nominee who could deliver transformational change for Americans.
The North Carolina senator did not deny playing a role in orchestrating an apparent last-minute scheme to sabotage Pete Hegseth’s defense secretary nomination, according to the Wall Street Journal. While Tillis ultimately voted to confirm Hegseth, the incident demonstrates how far the senator is willing to go to protect the D.C. status quo.
Look no further than Tillis’ ongoing attempts to salvage parts of President Biden’s wrongly named “Inflation Reduction Act.” Last month, the North Carolina Republican co-signed a letter asking Senate Majority Leader John Thune to spare the IRA’s “green energy” tax credits from being cut in the party’s reconciliation package.
And that example only scratches the surface of Tillis’ years-long career running defense for the swamp’s interests.
In recent years, the Tarheel State’s senior senator has supported massive spending packages, gun control legislation, allowing trans-identifying individuals to serve in the military, a bill “redefining” the original meaning of marriage, and making women eligible for the draft. In December 2022, he also worked behind the scenes with then-Democrat-caucusing Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., on a measure that sought to give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, as The Washington Post reported.
And who could forget Tillis’ willingness to ship billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars and resources to Ukraine? The senator has gone out of his way to insult the intelligence of voters who disagree with his stance, telling reporters last year, “Our base cannot possibly know what’s at stake at the level that any well-briefed U.S. senator should know about what’s at stake if [Vladimir] Putin wins,” according to Punchbowl News.
Tillis’ plan to sink Martin’s nomination may earn him favors with the propaganda press, who will undoubtedly praise this latest betrayal of his constituents as a noble stand against Orange Man Bad. But for his voters back home, not so much.
Without question, Tillis is one of the most cowardly and utterly useless members of the Senate GOP. If North Carolina voters want a senator who actually fights for their wishes, they need to primary this waste of taxpayer money out of office next year. They’d be doing their state — and the nation — a favor.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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