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Another Terrible, Troublesome Week for Thom Tillis

For the fourth week in a row, Senator Thom Tillis is making headlines for all the wrong reasons and this week may have been the worst yet: skipping a veterans’ affairs hearing to attend a fundraiser, serving as the poster child for Republicans’ looming “intraparty brawl,” and most concerning for his struggling campaign, hemorrhaging former supporters to his self-funding primary challenger.

Read on to see why one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the Senate is again counting down the seconds until the end of another truly terrible week.

Raleigh News & Observer: They gave to Tillis in the past. Now they’re leading his GOP rival’s first fundraiser.

By Brian Murphy

Key Points:

  • Steve Zelnak, the former CEO and chairman of the board at Raleigh-based Martin Marietta Materials, donated $5,000 to Sen. Thom Tillis in February.
  • On Wednesday night, however, Zelnak and his wife Judy will serve as chairmen for the first fundraiser for Tillis’ 2020 Republican challenger — Garland Tucker.
  • “I supported Tillis, but I’m not going to do it again. We hear some of that,” Wrenn said.
  • Of the 52 individuals or couples listed as chairman ($5,600 per couple giving level), host ($2,000), co-host ($1,000) or sponsor ($500) of the event, at least 13 have donated to Tillis in the past.
  • Tillis attended a fundraiser with Vice President Mike Pence in Greensboro last week, but the money went to Trump Victory and not to Tillis.

WBTV: Tillis skipped Senate VA Committee hearing to attend fundraiser in Greensboro

By Nick Ochsner

Key Points:

  • Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) missed a hearing of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee last week to attend a fundraiser in Greensboro.
  • Tillis is a member of the committee, which held a hearing last Wednesday afternoon to consider a range of legislation, including bills addressing veterans’ mental health care, homeless veterans and a bill that would address exposure to potentially toxic substances at Camp Lejeune, a Marine base in eastern North Carolina.
  • There is no evidence of Tillis attending the hearing. He is not seen in any portion of the video from the hearing posted on the committee’s website and there is no other record showing he took part in the hearing.
  • Later on Wednesday, Tillis missed a number of floor votes in the Senate, including one to confirm a new federal judge in the Western District of North Carolina.
  • When asked why Tillis decided to skip the VA Committee hearing, a spokesman for the senator did not directly answer the question.
  • Tillis’ decision to skip Wednesday’s hearing to raise money for his political campaign comes after he attacked his then-opponent for doing the same thing in 2014.

The Hill: Conservatives spark threat of bloody GOP primaries

By Jordain Carney

Key Points:

  • Senate Republicans are facing a potential intraparty brawl as they fight to hold onto the chamber next year.
  • ….nasty primary fights brewing in a handful of key states could threaten to throw a curveball into the Republican strategy, potentially setting the party up for a repeat of previous cycles when conservatives caused headaches by defeating more-mainstream GOP candidates, only to lose to Democrats in November.
  • Three races have jumped into the spotlight as looming problem areas for Republicans: In Alabama and Kansas, where conservatives Roy Moore and Kris Kobach are flirting with Senate bids, and in North Carolina, where Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C) is viewed as vulnerable to a primary challenge.
  • Tillis, meanwhile, could find himself a target of the Club for Growth. The group hasn’t taken a position on the North Carolina race, but it circulated a recent poll arguing that Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), whom the Club for Growth is trying to nudge into the race, would be a “strong opponent” against Tillis.
  • The polling memo also called Tillis a “weak incumbent” and that “if the Washington establishment and Mitch McConnell’s PAC support Tillis’s campaign, it will further erode his support.”

Read more here about Tillis’ troubles that just won’t quit:

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