Republican Sen. Tillis calls his vote for Hegseth the 'biggest regret of
my career' in a new book
[October 06, 2026]
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Thom Tillis says in a new book that
his deciding vote to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in January
2025 is the “biggest regret of my career” and that he also “should’ve
stopped” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from becoming Health and Human Services
secretary in the early days of President Donald Trump’s second term.
In “How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents,” to be published
Tuesday, the North Carolina senator defends his decision at the time to
not be “the lone voice in the wilderness” preventing Trump’s nominees
from confirmation. But Tillis makes clear he was always skeptical of
allegations about Hegseth’s turbulent management style, treatment of
women and excessive drinking. Hegseth denied all the allegations.
“I know for a fact that there are others like me,” Tillis writes,
“Republicans who agreed to go along with the early demands of the Trump
team no matter how ridiculous they were, believing that failing to do so
would mean the end of their political career, and who now see that
things have gone way too far.”
He writes that he can count at least 30 of his GOP colleagues who have
“expressed reservations (to put it mildly) about many of the president’s
actions in private. Then, when the reporters showed up with their
cameras and microphones, they’d have nothing but nice things to say.”
Tillis, who announced last year that he would not run for reelection in
a “breaking point” with the president on his sweeping tax and spending
cuts package, is publishing the book in his final months in office. He
joins a long list of Republicans who have ratcheted up their public
denunciations of Trump once they had less to lose politically.
Still, Tillis mostly deflects full blame from Trump, saying, “my beef is
not with him, but the idiots he’s got working for him.” He calls the
president “an amazing political talent.”
At the same time, he warns of a slippery slope toward authoritarianism
and urges his colleagues to “wake up” and push back on Trump more often,
for their own political good. Executive overreach, he says, doesn't work
and sooner or later, “comes back to bite the majority party in the ass.”
Tillis also predicts a “bloodbath” for Republicans in November’s midterm
elections.
“All along, we’ve had multiple chances to get off the path and avoid the
giant bronze monster chasing us down,” he writes.
Regrets his votes for Hegseth and Kennedy
The book is filled with cuss words and condemnations. He criticizes
Trump’s tariffs, the aggressive immigration raids that Tillis says were
an effort to “intentionally sow disorder” and the Iran war, which he
initially supported. He said the war can only end with a coalition of
willing nations and if Trump gets “Pete Hegseth the hell out of the
way.”
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Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., arrives for a hearing on Capitol
Hill, July 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein,
File)
Tillis pushed Hegseth’s confirmation vote late into the evening on
Jan. 24, 2025, as he weighed his decision, talking to the White
House, people who had worked with Hegseth and Hegseth himself. In
the end, he said he couldn’t corroborate the worst allegations and
would support Hegseth's confirmation. His vote brought the total to
50-50, and Vice President JD Vance broke the tie.
On his vote for Kennedy, Tillis writes that “I guess it’s easy to
say now, but I’m the one who has to live with that vote and all the
havoc Kennedy’s tenure has caused the country as a result.”
On both votes, he says he didn’t want to be the deciding factor.
“I had no intention of letting my colleagues outsource their courage
to me while they pretended to go along with the questionable
nomination President Trump had put forward,” he writes.
If you oppose Trump on everything, “you lose all influence,” Tillis
says. “If you oppose him and lose, you are in even worse shape.”
He strongly criticizes several of Trump’s other initial picks for
the Cabinet in the book, including former Director of National
Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, former Homeland Security Secretary
Kristi Noem and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Tillis describes his 'breaking point' over the tax bill
Tillis’s surprise announcement in June 2025 that he wouldn’t be
running for reelection came as he escalated criticism against Trump
and his “ Big Beautiful Bill ” of tax and spending cuts. Trump
attacked Tillis on social media after the senator said he couldn’t
support the bill’s cuts to Medicaid. Tillis says he thought to
himself, “I’m done.”
“Everyone reaches a breaking point,” he writes.
He texted the president asking him to look for his replacement in
the Senate, to which Trump replied “I am! DJT.”
In May 2026, Trump again attacked Tillis, calling him a “QUITTER!”
on social media, among other insults.
Tillis ends the book with a profanity-laced text he sent to the
president in response.
“I care if you fail and right now we are failing,” Tillis wrote to
Trump.
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