Thom Tillis Wants You To Forget His Role In Tanking Ed Martin’s D.C. Attorney Nomination
It’s becoming pretty clear that Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., desperately wants voters to forget his role in helping sink Ed Martin’s nomination to serve as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
Throughout the past week, the Tarheel State’s senior senator — who is up for reelection next year — has posted a series of tweets seemingly aimed at portraying himself as a reliable ally of President Trump and his administration. From lavishing praise on Trump’s Middle East trip and “Golden Age” presidency to lauding the law enforcement efforts of Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, the apparent rear-smooching campaign has been nothing short of pathetic.
In the short few months he served as acting attorney for the D.C. office, Martin was instrumental in spearheading efforts to restore transparency and accountability to the historically corrupt Justice Department. This included launching probes into intel officials’ involvement in the Trump-Russia collusion hoax and prosecutions of Jan. 6 demonstrators.
To remain in the position permanently, Martin required confirmation from the U.S. Senate. Which brings us back to Tillis.
After initially voicing skepticism about the nomination, Tillis confirmed last week his intent to oppose Martin. The North Carolina Republican cited Martin’s stance on Jan. 6 as justification for his unwillingness to vote “yes,” telling reporters, “I have no tolerance for anybody who entered the building on January the 6th, and that’s probably where most of the friction was.”
With Tillis being a “no” and fellow Judiciary Committee Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham refusing to commit to supporting Martin, the acting attorney’s nomination was effectively dead in the water, prompting Trump to withdraw him from consideration for the position. In Martin’s place, the president tapped Judge Jeanine Pirro, whom Tillis quickly voiced his support for in an apparent attempt to whitewash his role in sinking Martin’s nomination.
“Jeanine Pirro has had a long and storied career as a prosecutor and she is a great choice by @POTUS to serve as U.S. Attorney for DC!” Tillis wrote on X following Trump’s announcement.
Tillis has every incentive to try and deceive GOP voters into believing he’s a conservative firebrand who represents the best interests of his constituents. The two-term incumbent has a tough reelection bid coming up next year, and thus far, Tarheel State voters don’t seem to approve of his job performance.
A Carolina Journal/Cygnal poll published Thursday found that Tillis “suffers the lowest net image” among key state-level politicians in North Carolina. Just 26 percent of survey respondents reported having a “favorable” view of Tillis, while 46 percent said they had an “unfavorable” view.
Those figures likely have something to do with the fact that Tillis has spent his career in Washington prioritizing the interests of the D.C. establishment class over his state.
In recent years, he’s supported legislation that “rewrote” the definition of marriage, gun control, massive omnibus spending packages, amnesty for illegal aliens, allowing trans-identifying individuals in the military, making women eligible for the draft, and shipping endless amounts of taxpayer money to Ukraine — a position he defended by insulting the intelligence of voters who disagreed with him.
(He also did not deny playing a role in orchestrating an apparent last-minute scheme to sabotage Pete Hegseth’s defense secretary nomination.)
North Carolinians are more than welcome to vote for whoever they want in any given election. That’s their prerogative as voters.
But like with any politician who holds public office, Tillis should have to answer for his record and explain why he has repeatedly sided against the interests of those who elected him in the first place.
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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