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U.S. Senate North Carolina

Thom Tillis

Thom Tillis has consistently sided with corporate interests and the extreme MAGA agenda, often prioritizing tax cuts for the wealthy over the needs of working North Carolinians. His failure to support meaningful health care reform, including his efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act and calls for repealing Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices, has left many North Carolinians without adequate access to care.

News Joni Ernst Thom Tillis Wednesday, Jan 9 2019

By The Numbers: Shutdown Harms Federal Workers in Key 2020 States

A new report published by the Center for American Progress this week highlights the grave harms federal workers are enduring under President…

News Thom Tillis Wednesday, Jul 15 2015

Tillis Selling Out Seniors And Taxpayers

Surprise, surprise, North Carolina: Thom Tillis sold you a bill of goods. And now, he wants to make Medicaid and…

News Thom Tillis Tuesday, Oct 14 2014

VIDEO: Speaker Tillis, The Divider

Yesterday, it came to light that Speaker Tillis believes that state and federal governments, driven by Democrats, have effectively paid "de facto reparations" by redistributing "trillions of dollars over the years." This is just the latest in a string of offensive comments and comes on the heels of offering this lovely advice to minimum wage workers in last week's debate: "Get educated, as I did."

News Thom Tillis Friday, Oct 10 2014

ICYMI — Thom Tillis’s Advice To Minimum Wage Workers: Get Educated

In last night's North Carolina senate debate, Thom Tillis continued his condescending campaign, talking down not only to Senator Hagan, but to minimum wage workers in North Carolina. Already, Tillis has said that we should consider getting rid of the minimum wage altogether, called it  "a dangerous idea," and argued that workers in the Western North Carolina don't deserve the same pay as workers in Massachusetts. Last night, he went one step further when he offered this advice to minimum wage workers: "Get educated as I did."

News Thom Tillis Wednesday, Oct 8 2014

Research: Tillis Skipped Important Legislative Sessions For Fundraisers

Tillis Skipped House Sessions Where Important Issues Were Discussed To Attend Washington, D.C. Fundraisers For His Senate Campaign

Tillis Missed Monday June 30th Legislative Session, He Was Spotted In D.C. Airport Flying First Class Back To Raleigh Monday Evening. According to the News & Observer, “Tillis missed Monday’s legislative session, his third day in a row of skipping all or some of the session. Twitter user @gregflynn found him on a flight from Reagan Airport in Washington to Raleigh and posted two photos just before 10 p.m. He flew first class.” [News & Observer, 6/1/14] Tillis Was At Off-Site Business Meetings And A Fundraiser During Two Legislative Sessions. According to the News & Observer, “Friday, Morning Memo questioned where Speaker Thom Tillis was last week when he missed sessionsWednesday and part of Thursday. The answer: Tillis said he was at off-site business meetings and a fundraiser.” [News & Observer, 6/30/14] Tillis Skipped House Session, Including Debates Over Tax Reform And Gun Policy, To Attend Two Campaign Fundraisers In Washington D.C. According to the Raleigh News & Observer, “As the N.C. House debated a sweeping tax bill and a contentious gun resolution Wednesday, Speaker Thom Tillis spent the day raising money in Washington for his U.S. Senate bid. The Cornelius Republican attended at fundraiser at 11 a.m., the same time session started, hosted by two lobbyists at the offices of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, according to an invite. The meet-and-greet invite included information about donations up to the maximum limit of $2,600. Jade West, the association’s top lobbyist and leader of the NAW political action committee, and Kirk Blalock, a lobbyist at Fierce, Isakowitz and Blalock, are the hosts. Later in the day, Tillis is expected to attend another event hosted by the America’s Health Insurance Plans, an industry lobbying group. The 2 p.m. meet-and-greet is at the Capital Hill Club. Kelly Vgoel, the group’s vice president for federal affairs, sent an email pitching the event. ‘Speaker Tillis has received national attention as the NRSC has identified North Carolina as key race in 2014,’ she wrote. ‘He is considered to be a leader in the North Carolina primary and has strong support from North Carolina Republicans.’ A Tillis spokesman declined to comment on the speaker’s schedule and referred questions to the campaign. Tillis didn’t preside over some of the session Tuesday and was absent Wednesday. The speaker is paid a $38,151 annual salary with an additional $17,000 expense allowance as a part-time lawmaker.” [Raleigh News & Observer, 7/17/13]

News Thom Tillis Monday, Oct 6 2014

Memo: Speaker Tillis Calls In Extreme Right Wing Cavalry To Save Floundering Campaign

Memo: Speaker Tillis Calls In Extreme Right Wing Cavalry To Save Floundering Campaign To: Interested Parties From: Gwen Rocco, Communications Director, American Bridge Date: Tuesday, October 7, 2014 Thom Tillis, North Carolina's Republican Senate candidate, House Speaker, and notorious holder of anti-woman views, is calling in the cavalry to save his floundering candidacy in the final weeks before the election he's about to lose. His latest backer? A shady front group for the extreme right wing Susan B. Anthony List, which despite its name has little to do with championing the rights of women and everything to do with ending women’s access to health care services. Much like...Speaker Tillis! SBA List officially endorsed Tillis back in June, highlighting how he "led the charge" (their words) to curtail women's access to health care in North Carolina. What could they have been talking about? Well, take your pick: Tillis tried to cut off all state and federal funding for Planned Parenthood; Tillis believes states should have the right to ban birth control; Tillis said private companies should not have to cover contraceptives; Tillis supports that birth control-banning Republican favorite - personhood. The list goes on and on, but it makes complete sense when you recall that SBA List once hired a lobbyist to try to defund Planned Parenthood. Why hire a lobbyist when you can elect Speaker Tillis to do your dirty work for you?

News Thom Tillis Education Tuesday, Sep 16 2014

Thom Tillis to Campaign with Fellow Education Raider, Chris Christie

The Thom Tillis campaign is in freefall. For months and months, conventional wisdom had pegged North Carolina as one of Republicans' best pickup opportunities in the Senate. But disarray in Raleigh under the House Speaker's leadership, a disastrous budget overhaul that gutted education spending to give massive cuts to the wealthy, and a sustained disrespect toward women have left Tillis in a decisive hole. Four separate polls came out this week showing Hagan up by an average of over 5 points, leading even a GOP pollster to say, "the race has unmistakably shifted towards Sen. Hagan in recent days." So Tillis is calling in some help to stop the bleeding, in the form of one-time GOP presidential frontrunner Chris Christie. Well the two should have plenty to talk about. They can talk about budget problems. They can talk about ethics questions. But most importantly, they can talk about how each of them took an axe to funding for education, hurting schools and angering constituents. Thom Tillis has a lot to learn about putting his constituents first. Chris Christie is the least qualified person to teach him.

News Thom Tillis Wednesday, Sep 10 2014

Thom Tillis tries to mansplain away his contraceptives contradiction

In last week's North Carolina Senate debate, Speaker Thom Tillis declared his support for over the counter access to birth control, a statement that flies in the face of not only his earlier comments on contraceptives in particular, but his broader record on reproductive rights. Tillis' proclamation in last week's debate, no doubt a deliberate attempt to whitewash his position on these issues in the face of a significant gender gap in the race, rightfully earned the scorn of his hometown paper, the Charlotte Observer. The paper's Sunday editorial referred to Tillis' contraceptives comments as having the "pungent odor of politicking," considering his previous support for defunding Planned Parenthood and dangerous personhood amendments that could severely limit access to or even criminalize women's health services. The Observer notes that his support for over the counter birth control is "quite the turnaround," given that earlier this year, during his bid to secure the GOP nomination for Senate, Tillis agreed with his fellow GOP candidates that states should be able to ban contraceptives, according to a report from the Raleigh News & Observer.

News Thom Tillis Friday, Sep 5 2014

Cory Gardner and Thom Tillis: Insulting Women’s Intelligence

"At a GOP forum last month, candidates also said they thought states had the right to ban contraceptives. Tillis, who skipped the event, later said he agreed." [News & Observer, 1/31/14]

"When pressed specifically to rebut Brown’s assertion that S.B. 143 would have resulted in longer sentences for abortion providers than rapists and whether that is something Gardner still supports, Siciliano did not respond further." [KDVR, 9/3/14]

Thom Tillis believes that states have the right to ban contraceptives. Cory Gardner sponsored a bill that would have resulted in longer sentences for doctors who provide care for rape victims than to for the rapists themselves. Those are facts. And that is only the tip of the iceberg for each Senate candidate's record on women's issues. Now, both candidates are suddenly supporting over-the-counter birth control and claiming they are the better choice for women than their opponents. It's desperate election-year pandering. It's insulting. And it's fooling nobody. No two senate candidates have been more strongly committed in their careers to taking away women's access to health care and ability to make their own decisions.

News Thom Tillis Monday, Aug 18 2014

New Web Ad: Thom Tillis Forgot To Tell You A Few Things

Thom Tillis released a new TV ad today telling you a few things about his background and his record. The only problem? He forgot the facts. Nearly everything Tillis says in the ad is completely undermined by the truth about his record as Speaker of the North Carolina State House. From massive education cuts and budget shortfalls to tax cuts for the wealthiest North Carolinians in a perfectly Koch-aligned agenda, one thing is clear: Tillis does not want to talk to you about his record in the legislature. It's a record he's obviously so proud of that in this new ad he conveniently fails to mention that he has anything to do with the very legislative body he presides over. So we decided to help Speaker Tillis out and fill in some of the crucial context he was unable to fit into his new ad.

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