Sen. Thom Tillis, a two-term North Carolina Republican who was expected to contest one of 2026’s toughest Senate races, said Sunday he will not seek re-election.

Tillis made the announcement after voting “no” on a procedural vote to advance President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” — the cornerstone of his domestic policy agenda. Trump subsequently attacked Tillis in a series of social media posts.

“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,“ Tillis said in a statement.

He continued: “As many of my colleagues have noticed over the last year, and at times even joked about, I haven’t exactly been excited about running for another term. That is true since the choice is between spending another six years navigating the political theatre and partisan gridlock in Washington or spending that time with the love of my life Susan, our two children, three beautiful grandchildren, and the rest of our extended family back home. It’s not a hard choice, and I will not be seeking re-election.”

Tillis’ retirement sets up what could be a wild and crowded GOP primary in the Tar Heel State. On the Democratic side, Rep. Wiley Nickel is already in the race, and national party leaders are hoping ex-Gov. Roy Cooper enters the race.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin is insisting President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic megabill doesn’t break his promise not to cut Medicaid, even as the Congressional Budget Office estimates 7.8 million people would lose access if it passes.

Instead, Mullin (R-Okla.) told NBC’s Kristen Welker on Sunday, the “Big Beautiful Bill” is eliminating fraud, waste and abuse that Republicans say is rampant in the program.

“What is so hard about having a work requirement there with someone that has no medical conditions and no dependents?” he said on “Meet the Press.” “We don’t pay people in this country to be lazy. We want to give them an opportunity. And when they’re going through a hard time, we want to give them a helping hand. That’s what Medicaid was designed for.”

The Senate GOP voted narrowly to move to a general debate on the package on Saturday. Final passage could come Monday. But one Republican, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, voted against moving the bill forward due to its Medicaid language.

Democrats, too, are looking to seize on the cuts to win back working class voters who have moved toward Trump since his political rise.

Mullin argued that Republicans are seeking to future-proof the program, refocusing Medicaid on what it was “designed for.”

“There’s 35 million people under the poverty line inside the United States,” Mullin told Welker. “And there’s 70 million people that are signed up for Medicaid. You’re going to tell me that there’s not room to cut fraud, waste, and abuse in the program?”

As Republicans in Congress look to get President Donald Trump’s sweeping megabill to the Oval Office by July 4, one Democratic Senator is predicting the bill will crater support for the GOP across the country.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner told BLN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” will prove especially unpopular.

“I think the overwhelming amount of data shows that on this one, this is tax cuts for the wealthiest to end up cutting health care, plain and simple,” Warner said on “State of the Union.” “You can put any lipstick you want on this pig, but it’s still a pig.”

Senate Republicans on Saturday narrowly voted to start debate on the megabill, with just two members of the caucus, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, voting against moving forward. The chamber could likely pass the bill by Monday.

A June estimate from the Congressional Budget Office found that the bill and other health care rules could push 16 million people off health insurance. Warner told Tapper that it would “about double” the uninsured rate in his commonwealth of Virginia.

“The fact of the matter is, what this does baseline is all these cuts, all this cutback on health care to provide the wealthiest in our country a disproportionate share of tax cuts,” he said. “That just doesn’t seem fair. And the more we can get that out, I think this will be a political albatross.”