Republicans’ censure of Thom Tillis is ‘not helpful,’ one NC congressman says
Rep. Patrick McHenry offered only two words in response to the censure of Sen. Thom Tillis by the North Carolina Republican Party.
“Not helpful,” McHenry said quickly, as he walked by reporters while fighting off a stomach bug.
On Saturday, state Republicans met in Greensboro for their annual convention and voted to express their disapproval of Tillis for his work on guns, LGBTQ and immigration legislation over the past year. But Tillis’ fellow members of the House and Senate who agreed to speak aren’t offering any criticism of their party for the censure, with the exception of McHenry.
McHenry’s sole focus the past several weeks has been stopping House Republicans’ infighting and getting them back to work. Now, Republicans in his own state had turned on one of their own.
Rep. Richard Hudson, the leader of the Republican National Congressional Committee, said Wednesday that a party convention is a good place to have that type of discussion. The Southern Pines resident who attended the conference but wasn’t present when the censure vote took place and said he didn’t know the details of the the resolution.
“I think Thom has done a great job representing North Carolina,” Hudson told McClatchy. “I’ve disagreed with him on issues from time-to-time. I think it’s healthy for the party.”
When asked about the specifics that the party took issue with, Hudson declined to comment.
Tillis, for his part, said he has no regrets.
“I think that these are all policies that age well and that’s why I supported them,” Tillis said Tuesday outside the Senate chamber.
Tillis did not attend the convention that included speeches from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence — and from Trump, just two days after he was indicted on 37 criminal charges for allegedly mishandling classified documents belonging to the federal government.
“I had some family commitments,” Tillis said. “I’m also holding vigil because I have a daughter, that at any moment, I could disappear and go watch my third grandbaby be born.”
Tillis on gay marriage
Tillis said having previously served as North Carolina’s House speaker, he’s used to a portion of the base being frustrated, and he understands it.
But he said he also realized from the censure that there are some misunderstandings about his work in Washington, and that it’s on him to communicate to his constituents.
One of those misunderstandings, he said, was that he had participated in “recodifying same-sex marriage.”
“That couldn’t be further from the truth,” Tillis said.
He added that he doesn’t feel people fully understood what supporters of the bill tried to do, or know that at least one lawsuit in court has since been dismissed because lawmakers thought to add in a religious exemption.
In November, both Tillis and then-Sen. Richard Burr voted to federally protect same-sex and interracial marriages. Tillis was part of a bipartisan group of co-sponsors on the bill.
Last June, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1970s case that protected the right to an abortion, there was an immediate suggestion that the highest court might reexamine rulings that protect the right to same-sex and interracial marriage.
Tillis said then that more than 1 million people were already in committed same-sex marriages. He committed to ensuring that same-sex marriages would be protected, while at the same time that religious institutions could not be found liable for refusing to participate in a ceremony.
Tillis and Burr faced immediate backlash, but 56.3% of North Carolinians said they supported same-sex marriage in a poll conducted at the time by Meredith University.
Along with Tillis, Burr is the only other Republican senator, governor or representative to face censure from the party in recent history. The party censured Burr because he voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, The News & Observer previously reported.
Burr retired at the end of December, and was replaced in January by Sen. Ted Budd. One of Budd’s last acts in the U.S. House was to vote against the bill on same-sex marriage, giving some insight as to how Budd and Tillis would differ as senators.
Budd weighed in on Tillis’ censure Tuesday in a written statement that sidestepped whether he supports the reprimand.
“Senator Tillis and I aren’t going to agree on everything, but where we do, we’ll find ways to work together on behalf of the people of North Carolina, and that’s what I’m focused on,” Budd said.
Asked later Tuesday in the Capitol if he is concerned about what might happen if he falls out of line with what the party wants, Budd said, “You step up, you try to do the best you can to serve others and you take care of your state, and we all have our moment the barrel.”
Tillis on the censure
Tillis appeared unfazed by the censure.
“The most important vote on Saturday was for the chair,” Tillis said. “We averted an unmitigated disaster by defeating John Kane, so nothing bad could have happened in that convention once that happened.”
Kane, son and namesake of Raleigh’s Kane Realty owner, challenged GOP Chairman Michael Whatley for his leadership position. Whatley has served as GOP chair since 2019, helping to deliver the state in 2020 for Tillis and former President Donald Trump and for Sen. Ted Budd in 2022.
Whatley will lead the party through the 2024 election that includes both the presidential race and what is looking to be a contentious gubernatorial race.
Tillis on gun rights
Tillis also faced backlash for his bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the largest overhaul of gun laws in three decades when it passed last year. Tillis and Rep. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, worked on the bill together following a string of mass shootings that began at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
He added that he’s consistently tracking his bills to ensure they’re effective when they become law.
Since the guns bill passed, he said 100,000 people under 21 have applied for a gun, and only 181 have been denied. He said the fear that there would be mass confiscation from red flag laws or failure of due process just haven’t come to fruition.
“Cooler heads will prevail,” Tillis said. “We’ll be just fine.”
This story was originally published June 15, 2023 at 8:00 AM.
