After primary purges, could Trump have more Thom Tillises on his hands? | Opinion
President Donald Trump’s mission to oust Republican lawmakers he considers insufficiently loyal could give Thom Tillis some company in what some reporters have jokingly dubbed the U.S. Senate’s “YOLO caucus.”
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy lost his reelection bid in Louisiana because he voted to impeach Trump in 2021. John Cornyn could be the next senator to go, as Trump just endorsed his opponent in the upcoming Texas Senate runoff, which makes Cornyn’s defeat all the more likely. Over in the House, U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, one of Trump’s biggest Republican critics in Congress, also lost his primary in Kentucky.
Cornyn and Cassidy have learned the same lesson as Tillis: even if you support Trump 99 out of 100 times, he’ll still make you pay for the one time you didn’t. But while Tillis chose retirement, Cornyn and Cassidy sought reelection and went to great lengths to ingratiate themselves with the president. Cornyn, for example, abandoned his long-running support for the filibuster in service of Trump’s SAVE America Act, and he recently proposed the renaming of a Texas highway in Trump’s honor. Cassidy is a doctor, and he stifled his objections over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine views and voted to confirm him anyway, much like Tillis did with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
It’s clear that Trump’s hold on the Republican base is as strong as ever. But his hold on Congress could grow shakier if the newly lame duck Republicans choose to take a page out of the Tillis playbook. They may no longer have a future in Congress, but they do still have seven months left in office, and like Tillis, they might not go quietly
When Tillis opted to forgo reelection after voting against Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill, he said he looked forward to “having the pure freedom to call the balls and strikes as I see fit.” He’s done so by criticizing Cabinet members, blocking some of Trump’s nominations and, unlike Cornyn, refusing to eliminate the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act.
Massie has consistently been one of Trump’s biggest and most unapologetic Republican critics in Congress, so his loss is less likely to bring about a significant shift. But Cassidy and Cornyn have largely fallen in line during Trump’s second term, so any softening of their support for the president’s agenda could have a real impact. Cassidy now has nothing to lose — and no real incentive to capitulate — and he’s already shown some signs of defection. On Tuesday, Cassidy flipped his vote on legislation to end the Iran war, a resolution he had previously opposed. Cassidy also said he opposes $1 billion in funding for Trump’s ballroom, calling it “a spit-in-the-eye insult to all my taxpayers in Louisiana.”
If that streak of defiance continues, it could create a numbers problem for Senate Republicans, who can only afford to lose three GOP votes on partisan legislation. Cornyn, Cassidy and Tillis make three, but there are a handful of other Republicans who have occasionally defected on key issues, including Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski, which has made the majority shaky. It could further stall the White House’s legislative priorities, including the looming budget reconciliation bill that contains Trump’s ballroom funding, and make it harder to confirm controversial presidential appointees.
Obviously, it’s disheartening to see Republicans suddenly find their moral footing when they no longer have anything to lose. With a vengeful Trump as president, Republicans are constantly forced to choose between their party and their principles, and far too often, they abandon the latter. Of course, today’s political landscape doesn’t exactly reward those who do the right thing. As this year’s primaries have shown, there’s a cost to defying Trump, one that won’t make it any easier for lawmakers to speak up.
When November rolls around, the Republicans who have defied Trump may be proven right. They’ll still be out of a job, but the policies they tried to steer Trump away from may backfire, and Republicans could pay for it at the polls. In the meantime, though, they may join Tillis in taking advantage of their newfound freedom.
Deputy Opinion Editor Paige Masten is covering politics and the 2026 elections for The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer.
This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 2:55 PM.
