Monitoring US Senator Thom Tillis

US Senator Thom Tillis(R) has served in the Senate since 2015.

Senator Tillis provides an online form for contact: https://www.tillis.senate.gov/email-me

Contact information including the phone number and location of his offices in the state and DC are also provided on his website: https://www.tillis.senate.gov/office-locations

This link to the federal website Congress.gov lists legislation associated with Senator Tillis:https://www.congress.gov/member/thomas-tillis/T000476?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22thom+tillis%22%7D&s=3&r=1

As our time permits, we will highlight some of his most alarming votes and actions on this page.

Recent alarming votes and statements:

1. Tillis voted yes on the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Sciences. Among other controversial and alarming qualities, Kennedy has worked for years to undermine vaccines, which historically have saved lives and reduced suffering for Americans. Polio survivor Sen. Mitch McConnell strongly opposed this nominee. With this vote, Tillis appears to support increasing the number of children who die of preventable diseases like measles.

Here's one impact of Tillis' vote for RFK Jr: The CDC buried a measles forecast that stressed the need for vaccines.

Here's another example of how Tillis's vote is putting our health at risk: Changes to the COVID vaccine recommendations mean many who want and need the vaccine may not be able to get it. 

2. Tillis voted yes on the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence. Gabbard has no intelligence experience and felt comfortable meeting with (and refused to criticize) Bashar al-Assad, whose family (until Dec 2024) "ruled over Syria with an iron fist, with long documented reports of mass incarceration, torture, extra-judicial killings, and atrocities against their own people" (CNN). Even Sen Mitch McConnell could not vote for someone with a record of what he called "lapses in judgment." With this vote, Tillis appears to be comfortable undermining our national security.

3. Tillis voted yes on the nomination of Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense (even Senator Mitch McConnell voted against Hegseth, who he said failed to convince him he was prepared for this role). Pete Hegseth has since proven McConnell correct, notably endangering the lives of service members by sharing classified information on unsecure channels and, so far, with a reporter, his wife, and his brother. He also assigned a role in his department to his brother and brings his wife to critical meetings.

4. Tillis sponsored the SAVE legislation to the Senate, legislation that Brennan Center calls the one of the worst voting policies in U.S. history. This is not "just a voter ID bill," but one that sets up hurdles to voting to 21 million citizens with full legal rights to vote but no easy access to the specialized documents required to vote. It sets up special hurdles to anyone (usually women) who changed their name when they married. It could set up barriers for service members serving abroad. It is a form of voter suppression and an implicit poll tax because it will now cost $65-200 to pay for the required documents. Tillis claims this is a way to protect election integrity, but we already have countless protections in every state of election integrity and zero evidence that any non-citizen is voting illegally. Making it harder for Americans to vote is the opposite of what we call integrity, Senator Tillis.

5. Tillis attacked our county directly online and through public statements, claiming we harbor criminals (existing is NOT a crime, Senator Tillis). Our local law enforcement acts in good faith to build a safe community that values those living together peacefully and making us all stronger. Effective police aim to reduce crimes that harm our community, rather than stir up witch hunts based on rumor and lies. Not only that, our Sheriff had to explain that Watauga County complies with the laws and never claimed to be a sanctuary county, so Tillis spread a lie (the other counties he attacked pushed back as well). Shame on you, Senator Tillis! Further, this region depends on tourism, which includes visitors from other countries who will not feel safe visiting here if there is a rise in the vigilantism and deceptiveness of the brutal ICE employees (who should also be ashamed of what they are doing). Leave law enforcement to professionals who understand what our community needs to thrive.

Snapshot of Tillis's attack of our county of facebook (click on photo to see a larger version)

(more will be added as time permits)