Sen. Thom Tillis leaves Senate whip team amid One Big Beautiful Bill fallout

Danielle Battaglia, McClatchy Washington Bureau on Jul 10, 2025

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Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, no longer plans to whip votes in his chamber for his party leadership.

In Congress, whips count votes and ensure the wishes of their party and leadership are followed.

“(Senator Tillis) and I had a discussion,” Majority Whip John Barrasso said Thursday, his team told McClatchy. “It was his decision to no longer be a participant in the whip team.”

Tillis’ senior adviser, Daniel Keylin, confirmed to McClatchy that Tillis made the decision.

Neither senator’s team has said if Tillis removed himself before or after the vote.

Tillis joined the whip team in 2017 under then-Majority Whip John Cornyn. He also served under now-Majority Leader John Thune, when Thune held the same position.

Tillis’ departure from the team comes amid fallout from Tillis trying to stop the passage of the Senate’s version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The sweeping legislation fulfilled many of President Donald Trump’s campaign promises, passed both chambers and was signed into law July 4 on the White House lawn underneath three sets of military flyovers.

Medicaid fallout

Tillis took issue with the bill because of cuts to Medicaid that are expected to impact 663,000 people in North Carolina.

“Republicans are about to make a mistake on health care and betray a promise,” Tillis said on the Senate floor before the vote. “It is inescapable that this bill in its current form will betray the very promise that Donald J. Trump made (to) go after waste, fraud and abuse on any programs.”

Republicans argue that cuts to Medicaid do exactly that: prevent people from abusing the program. But the bill cuts $1.02 trillion from the social safety net program and will likely leave 11.8 million people uninsured, including the very people the program was intended to help.

Tillis believes North Carolina stands to lose $32 billion over 10 years, leaving state officials with the choice to either roll back the state’s 2023 Medicaid expansion, make cuts elsewhere or raise taxes.

Most of the effects won’t be felt until after the 2026 election.

Tillis fallout

With Tillis opposed, the bill only passed the Senate with Vice President JD Vance using his vote as a tie breaker.

The bill prompted Tillis to announce his retirement and end his reelection campaign.

Tillis has yet to comment on his removal from the whip team. But he did send out a post on social media supporting his replacement.

“Senator Bernie Moreno brings a lot of passion and energy to the GOP Conference and has hit the ground running,” Tillis wrote. “He is a great addition to the whip team.”

Barasso’s team confirmed Moreno will replace Tillis for the remainder of the 119th Congress. The next term is scheduled to begin Jan. 3, 2027.

“... Bernie Moreno’s been doing a great job,” Barrasso said. “He helped whip quite a bit during the reconciliation process.”

In a news release, he added that Moreno worked 27 hours nonstop as senators held an overnight voting session, to “keep the conference united and ultimately secured passage of our Republican agenda.”

Moreno said in the same news release: “I’m thrilled to join the team as a Deputy Whip and to help our conference continue to deliver on our promises.“

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