Thom Tillis, Republican Senator, Won’t Seek Re-election Amid Trump’s Primary Threats

Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, announced on Sunday that he would not seek re-election next year, a day after President Trump threatened to back a primary challenger against him because Mr. Tillis had said he opposed the bill carrying Mr. Trump’s domestic agenda.

Mr. Tillis’s departure will set off a highly competitive race in North Carolina that could be pivotal in the battle for control of the closely divided Senate. It was the latest congressional retirement to underscore the rightward shift of the G.O.P. and the reality that there is little room for any Republican to break with Mr. Trump.

“In Washington over the last few years, it’s become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species,” Mr. Tillis said in a lengthy statement on his decision.

The announcement came as the Senate was wading into a debate over the large-scale tax cut and domestic policy bill that Mr. Trump has demanded be delivered to his desk by July 4. Mr. Tillis announced his decision the day after issuing a statement saying he could not in good conscience support the measure, which he said would lead to tens of billions of dollars in lost funding for his state, costing people Medicaid coverage and critical health services.

He was one of just two Republicans who voted Saturday night against bringing up the bill.

Mr. Tillis has been privately critical of the legislation and cautioned colleagues of the political downsides for them if they back it. In a closed-door meeting with his Republican colleagues last week, he warned that the sweeping legislation could be an albatross for the party in 2026.

The president’s allies celebrated Mr. Tillis’ announcement as more proof of Mr. Trump’s political strength. “Don’t Cross Trump,” Jason Miller, who served as a top adviser for the president’s re-election campaign, wrote on social media. “The voters gave him a mandate to implement a specific agenda, and they want everyone to get behind his efforts!”

Maeve Coyle, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, called Mr. Tillis’s decision “another blow to Republicans’ chances as they face a midterm backlash that puts their majority at risk."

North Carolina’s former governor Roy Cooper was widely expected to eventually join the race, one of a handful that Democrats are eyeing during an election year that features a daunting electoral map for their chances at retaking the Senate. Two Democrats have announced their candidacies already: former Representative Wiley Nickel and Andy Nilsson, a former candidate for lieutenant governor. Mr. Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, a North Carolina native, has been floated as a candidate as well.

Mr. Tillis, 64, is serving his second term and has been struggling to balance a re-election campaign with his desire, at times, to break with Mr. Trump.

In his statement, he said he was looking forward “to having the pure freedom to call the balls and strikes as I see fit and representing the great people of North Carolina to the best of my ability” in his remaining time in Congress.

In January, Mr. Trump made it clear that he was contemplating finding a primary challenger to Mr. Tillis after the senator expressed grave reservations about his nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. Mr. Tillis eventually fell in line and backed the president’s pick, surrendering to Mr. Trump’s demands for loyalty.

Mr. Tillis in his statement blamed the lack of any middle ground in Congress on both parties, pointing to the recent departures of Senators Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, both conservative-leaning Democrats before Ms. Sinema switched her affiliation to Independent, without naming them.

“When people see independent thinking on the other side, they cheer,” he said. “But when those very same people see independent thinking coming from their side, they scorn, ostracize and even censure them.”

The dynamic has been much more acute for Republicans on Capitol Hill, where in recent years center-leaning lawmakers have headed for the exits. For instance, four of the Republican senators who worked with Democrats to pass a gun safety law in 2022 — Roy Blunt of Missouri, Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, Rob Portman of Ohio and Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania — all left Congress soon after.

Mr. Tillis, in his statement, added, “I haven’t exactly been excited about running for another term,” saying that his job was too much about “navigating the political theater and partisan gridlock in Washington.”

Mr. Tillis has played a key role in some major bipartisan legislation in recent years, including a compromise bill intended to stop dangerous people from accessing firearms that President Joseph R. Biden Jr. signed into law in 2022. He was part of a bipartisan group of senators who worked to propose changes to how Congress counted electoral votes after the mob attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

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