Retiring Senator Thom Tillis has voiced concerns over how Donald Trump might react if Republicans face losses in the 2026 midterms.
The clock is ticking on Senator Thom Tillis’s time in the upper chamber. but the North Carolina Republican isn’t leaving his post without one final. jagged warning for his party. As he prepares to depart Washington in January. Tillis is bracing for the possibility that the 2026 midterm elections could trigger a volatile response from Donald Trump should the night go poorly for the GOP.
Sitting down for a broadcast interview on October 5. 2026. Tillis was pressed on whether he feared a repeat of the behavior that defined the aftermath of the 2020 election. When asked directly if he had concerns regarding how the president might react to a bruising midterm defeat. the senator did not mince words: “I think there’s a risk. I really do. It would be another political unforced error if we do that.”.
This skepticism toward the party’s leader marks a sharp departure for a man who. during the Senate impeachment trial following the January 6. 2021. attack on the Capitol. did not vote to convict Trump. Tillis justified that past decision by arguing the impeachment process itself was rushed. a point highlighted during his conversation with interviewer Ross Douthat. Now. with his retirement imminent and his book. “How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents. ” set for release this week. the senator’s criticisms of Trump’s conduct have only sharpened.
The memory of January 6 remains a central, unresolved friction point for Tillis. He recalled the storming of the Capitol—where a mob of supporters attempted to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory—as a dark milestone in American history. “The first time in the history of this country that we had not had a completely peaceful transfer of power on that day. and that was despicable. ” Tillis said. He described his view of the rioters with visceral frustration: “The people that led the charge. the people that assaulted police officers. I wish they were still in prison and serving a very long sentence. I found it disgusting.”.
The tension between Tillis’s past legislative choices and his current rhetoric underscores the complicated legacy of a Republican official navigating the tail end of his career. He remains a man who prioritized the procedural integrity of an impeachment trial over a conviction vote. yet currently spends his final days in office warning his colleagues of the very figure he refused to remove from power five years ago.
Thom Tillis Donald Trump 2026 midterms US politics GOP January 6 US Senate