Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina could be about to leave the Republican Party, he admitted in an interview.
Tillis said in an interview with POLITICO he considers himself a Republican In Name Only based on his disagreements with President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda, which clashes with the establishment GOP.
“I think for the first time in my life, I may actually be a RINO,” Tillis said. “The Republican Party has drifted so far away from limited government, free markets and federalism.”
Tillis claimed MAGA Republicans are now “no different than the Democrats” — something that was cheered by the fringe group, “Republicans Against Trump.”
GOP Senator Thom Tillis:
“For the first time in my life, I may actually be a RINO. The Republican party has drifted so far away from limited government, free market and federalism…
If we’re in this sort of chaos in June, then not only do we risk losing the House, but I do… pic.twitter.com/ENC1ut0iKi
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) February 1, 2026
The North Carolina senator, who announced last year will not seek re-election in 2026, has become increasingly critical of the Trump since deciding to retire.
“I think what it comes down to is, obviously, I don’t have to look through a political lens anymore,” Tillis said. “But if people look back over the course of the 20 years I’ve been in legislative politics, I have always bucked.”
“I want the president to be successful. I’m a business person. I work on a transaction basis. I could sit down with him and come up with things that I’d love to support him on,” Tillis said.
“I think that’s the mistake that some people have made here. They just get so frustrated that maybe they realized they weren’t Republican. So then they become backbenchers who are constantly criticizing.”
Tillis said there will be consequences if Republicans continue to follow the president’s lead.
“Again, I support the majority of what this administration is trying to do. They have highly competent people in roles, and I’m glad that they’re there. But elections are all around the margins, and we are way out of the margins of, I think, proper execution and things that are going to influence this election if we don’t get our collective stuff together in the coming 30, 60, 90 days,” Tillis said.
“If we’re still in this sort of narrative and chaos in June, then not only do I think we risk losing the House, but I do believe that the U.S. Senate could be in play, and I’m doing everything I can to prevent that,” he said.
Tillis announced his retirement last year after voting against the One Big Beautiful Bill spending act. After, President Trump threatened to back a primary challenger against him in the 2026 midterms.
The senator has been very critical of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller over their handling of immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota. Tillis became the first Republican senator to call for Noem’s resignation following the fatal shooting of anti-ICE agitator Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
“What she’s done in Minnesota should be disqualifying. She should be out of a job,” Tillis told reporters. “It’s just amateur-ish. It’s terrible. It’s making the president look bad on policy that he won on. [President Trump] won on a strong message on immigration. Now, nobody’s talking about that. … They’re talking about the incompetence of the leader of Homeland Security.”
President Trump responded to Tillis’s criticism by calling him and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska “losers” after both called for Noem to step down.
“They’re terrible senators. One is gone and the other should be gone,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News. “What Murkowski says — she’s always against the Republicans anyway. And Tillis decided to drop out. So you know, he lost his voice once he did that.”
Tillis has just 339 days remaining in his term.