Tillis continues to buck the party, make deals

North Carolina’s own U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis has made national headlines in recent months as he emerges as a deal-maker in the Senate, sometimes bucking his party as he becomes the linchpin for key legislation.

Following the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas,that left 19 children and two adults dead, Congress mobilized to pass gun legislation. It wasn’t the first time that a tragedy had pushed lawmakers to act on guns, but it was the first time in three decades that Congress was successful — in no small part because of Tillis.

Corralling support from Democrats and fellow Republicans, Tillis helped draft an 80-page bill that expands mental health care access and enhances background checks for gun buyers under 21. The bill passed both houses last month and was signed by President Joe Biden.

More recently, Tillis voiced his support for a bill to codify the rights to same-sex marriage and interracial marriage. Congressional Democrats put the bill forward after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas called for revisiting Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that legalized same-sex marriage.

The bill, titled the Respect for Marriage Act, passed the House earlier this month, with all of North Carolina’s Republicans voting no. Despite his party’s votes in the House, Tillis told McClatchy he plans to support the bill, calling it a “sincere codification of current law.”

Tillis’ support marks a departure from his record on same-sex marriage. In 2011, when Tillis served as speaker of the North Carolina House, the legislature declared the legal definition of marriage to be between a man and woman, a definition that later became part of the state constitution.

However, even then Tillis called same-sex marriage a generational issue that he expected “to be repealed within 20 years.”

In another, slightly less reported move, Tillis is also heavily involved in supporting Finland and Sweden’s bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Tillis is co-chair of the Senate NATO Observer Group alongside Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. The two visited Finland and Sweden last month as part of their trip to the annual NATO summit.

Donald Trump frequently criticized NATO while he was president, and the organization has fallen out of favor with many Republicans in Congress as well. In April, the House passed a resolution in support of NATO; 63 Republicans (including three from North Carolina) voted against it.

“Sweden and Finland are both vital to the strength of NATO’s military border and the deterrence of future Russian aggression, and their accession to the NATO alliance will be a historic expansion,” Tillis said in a press release last month. “Senator Shaheen and I unequivocally support their intent to join, and we look forward to visiting both nations to bolster support before returning home to lead the Senate’s ratification of their accession.”

Tillis’ term in the Senate doesn’t end until 2027, so he may be able to make decisions that are unpopular with some of the Republican base without fearing electoral backlash. He’s still sticking with the party on many major issues, though. When Democrats attempted to codify Roe v. Wade in May after a draft decision of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe was leaked, Tillis voted against it.

MORE FROM THE TEAM

Our new colleague, Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi, reports that thousands of North Carolinians serving a felony sentence are now eligible to vote. Due to a court ruling, any resident convicted of a felony who has finished their jail or prison time may now vote in the upcoming elections. The ruling comes after years of advocacy from voting rights groups and affects over 56,000 people.

And our “budget queen,” Dawn Vaughan, has an update on Medicaid expansion talks in the legislature. The short story: they’re stalled, despite Gov. Roy Cooper’s optimism a few weeks ago that a deal could come quickly. While both the House and Senate largely agree that expansion should happen, they’ve been unable to come to an agreement on the details.

And for one last bit of Tillis news, our D.C. correspondent, Danielle Battaglia, reports that he’s taken a key role in reforming how presidential elections are certified. Tillis and 15 other senators are sponsoring legislation to clarify that the vice president’s role in certifying elections is purely ceremonial, following Trump’s attempts to have former Vice President Mike Pence overturn the 2020 election results.

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— By Kyle Ingram, reporter for The News & Observer. Email me at kingram@newsobserver.com and follow me on Twitter @kyle_ingram11.