North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis Talks Midterm Elections

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

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Joe Mathieu (0:07)

Joining us now on The President, the upcoming midterms and a heck of a lot more, is Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who's just out with the new book, How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents. All the talk and great to have you back with us, Senator, in our studio. Thanks for coming over to say hello.

Thom Tillis (0:23)

It's a pleasure.

Joe Mathieu (0:24)

We're talking about a lot of stuff here on the midterm trail, 27 days out. You talk in your book about creating the recipe, potentially, for losses in this midterm cycle.

Based on what we're hearing, Republicans could lose the House and the Senate. If that happens, does the party deserve it?

Thom Tillis (0:43)

Well, you're only as good as the job you do for your constituents who vote for you. A part of that's messaging, a part of that's results. I think that our messaging has produced a bad result, a political result in Iran. I mean, we should all go back and remember how even Democrats were lauding the success of Epic Fury. But since then, we haven't seen measurable progress. That was measurable. It was successful. I think the president should have built a case for saying, we're going to have some economic headwinds, but it's worth it because I'm going to protect you from a terrorist regime that could otherwise have nuclear weapons. We haven't heard that message. We need to.

But I will tell you, one of my staff sent me a picture six years ago this week that I was supposedly down 10 points with my opponent. It worked out okay for me. So there's plenty of politics. 27 days is an eternity if we're on message and we're talking about the things that voters want to hear.

Kailey Leinz (1:36)

So does that mean you're holding out hope for Michael Botley in the seat that you're vacating?

Thom Tillis (1:41)

I think there's a narrow-

Kailey Leinz (1:41)

His money is fleeing North Carolina right now.

Thom Tillis (1:43)

Yeah, I think that the challenge that I see there, I think the Republican, the Senate Leadership Fund probably made the right call to move resources where they need to for some of the seats that we would just expect it to win. The most troubling thing to me are reports that the Democrats are pulling money there. So they're looking at data and feeling pretty confident, and Cooper has a lot of hard dollars that he can spend there, and they're deploying that money elsewhere. That worries me. But now, it's going to be a fight. We need to get people out. In Texas, Paxson needs to get out there and campaign. People need to know that Telerico was calling for the nuke and the filibuster destroying the Senate back in 2022 I'm not hearing that stuff. I mean, get out there and campaign. Don't be afraid. And also, don't be afraid to separate from the president on issues where you genuinely disagree. You can't do it artificially, but if you genuinely believe it, now's the time to say, yeah, we're not hitting on all senators in Iran. We do have an affordability crisis. But let me tell you about the affordability crisis that the Democrats will have if they can take control of Washington. That's what we should be talking about.

Joe Mathieu (2:44)

We are seeing some senators find some sunlight. Mike Rogers says it's time to end the war in Iran now. Susan Collins did her best last night in a debate to remove herself. But isn't Ken Paxton the exception? Doesn't he exist in this role because of Donald Trump?

Thom Tillis (3:01)

No, 100%. Look, John Cornyn is a friend of mine. He's an extraordinary Senate member. It's a big loss to the Senate. The president, you know, they always say you broke it, you bought it. The president wanted Paxton as the nominee. He got it. Now he needs to do everything he can to get it elected. Because what a colossal failure if we lose Texas.

And it's an unforced error. I mean, we'd probably save $100 million not being in there. So I respectfully disagree with the president on his choice. I think he made a mistake.

Kailey Leinz (3:30)

Well, he got the nominee he wanted in Texas. He also got the cabinet he wanted, in part because of votes that you cast. You write in your book, for example, that your vote for Pete Hegseth is one of your biggest regrets. And you talk a lot in the book about how you view President Trump as a CEO, and that the Senate is kind of a board of directors. And all of the people underneath him are supposed to give him advice. You obviously feel that he's surrounded by people who are not giving him good advice.