Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said Sunday that President Donald Trump made a “colossal mistake” by declining to back Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in his primary, a decision Tillis argues has turned a safe Republican seat into a costly battleground.
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Tillis told anchor Jake Tapper that Republicans now face expensive fights in states that shouldn’t be competitive at all.
“We’ve got to focus on Ohio. But we’ve also got to focus on some of these states that are popping up as competitive. Texas, for example. That to me is an unforced error created by the president. Now the president needs to invest in there to make sure Paxton wins,” Tillis said.
Tapper pressed Tillis on the broader pattern, noting that both Tillis and Cornyn now face contests that will drain party resources. “Republicans have to spend tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in both North Carolina and Texas,” Tapper said, pointing out that Trump had targeted both incumbents over perceived disloyalty rather than protecting the party’s Senate majority.
Tillis drew a distinction between his own situation and Cornyn’s. “He didn’t force me out. I was already moving in that direction. He just gave me a good opportunity to announce my retirement,” Tillis said of his own decision not to seek reelection.
But on Cornyn, Tillis didn’t soften his criticism.
“In the case of Cornyn, he made a colossal mistake. John Cornyn is a great member of the U.S. Senate. Paxton has his challenges. We would not be spending tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in Texas if Cornyn had won,” Tillis said.
Cornyn lost his primary to Ken Paxton, a result Tillis said has needlessly forced national Republicans to defend a seat that should have been secure. Tillis argued the party’s growing intolerance for any deviation from Trump is hurting its electoral chances.
“This party has evolved to a point to where 1 or 2 disagreements with the president, Cornyn’s a classic example, voting with the president over 98, 99% of the time. Folks, now is not the time for these loyalty oaths. Now is the time for Republicans to get elected,” Tillis said.
Tillis said the president still has a chance to limit the damage by backing Paxton in the general election, but the comments underscore a rift among Republicans over how much room there is for disagreement with Trump before it costs the party seats it should otherwise hold.
