McConnell calls Tillis retirement ‘big setback’ for Senate GOP

Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) on Monday called Sen. Thom Tillis’s (R-N.C.) surprise announcement that he will not run for reelection a “big setback” for Senate Republicans, as political handicappers now think Democrats have a better chance of flipping the North Carolina Senate seat.

McConnell posted on the social platform X that Tillis “is one of the most effective and collegial members that I have ever served with in the United States Senate.”

“His announcement is a big setback for the Senate and the Republican Conference,” McConnell said.

Tillis announced his retirement suddenly on Sunday after President Trump vented at him on social media for threatening to vote against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act because of deep cuts to Medicaid.

Trump blasted Tillis on Saturday after the senator announced he would vote no on the motion to proceed and final passage of the “big, beautiful bill” because of the Medicaid cuts in the bill.

Tillis told Trump in a text message he sent to the president shortly before Trump torched him online: “Ack Mr. President. … Start thinking about my replacement.”

Now political handicappers say Republicans will have a tougher time defending the North Carolina Senate seat.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted the North Carolina Senate race from “Lean Republican” to a “toss-up.”

Sean Trende, a political analyst for RealClearPolitics.com, wrote that Republicans will have a tougher job keeping control of the North Carolina seat with Tillis out of the race, observing “the Senate seat most vulnerable to flipping to the other side became even harder for Republicans to hold.”

Trump trashed Tillis online over the weekend, accusing him of loving windmills made in China and being “willing to throw the very important Tobacco Industry in North Carolina ‘out the window.’”

He said that Tillis would face a “very difficult re-election” and was making “a BIG MISTAKE for America” by opposing the bill.

Trump also said he was “looking for someone who will properly represent the Great People of North Carolina.”