Tuesday night, Thom Tillis celebrated the biggest political victory of his life. It was a short celebration. The rest of the week sucked.
Tillis started Wednesday morning doing national morning news shows. Everything seemed to be okay until he got a question from MSNBC’s Chuck Todd about raising the minimum wage. Tillis said that the federal government shouldn’t set minimum wages and that they should be set by states.
So in a logical follow up question, Todd asked Tillis if he supported raising North Carolina’s minimum wage. Tillis stalled and said that was an issue for the legislature. When Todd reminded him that he is Speaker, Tillis still couldn’t give an answer. And that was the take away from his morning with national media the day after his victory.
Then, Kay Hagan leveled attacks on Tillis for failing to expand Medicaid in North Carolina and denying 500,000 citizens healthcare. It was a solid hit and brought up a subject we are likely to hear about more often. It’s part of the “conservative revolution” that Tillis likes to remind people he led. Now, he owns it.
Finally, on Friday, Senate Majority PAC launched a sharp attack ad on Tillis. It’s filmed at his election night party. Cut aways remind us that under Tillis, the legislature slashed taxes for the wealthy while raising them on middle class families. At the end the woman says, “Thom Tillis says he’s up there for you but he’ll cost North Carolina families–big time.” It’s effective and begins to define Tillis.
So Tillis started the week with a celebration and ended on the defensive. The MSNBC incident exposes Tillis’ weakness as a candidate. He’s never been good on his feet and has a tendency to stick his foot in his mouth. The attacks by Hagan and the superPAC supporting her show that the Democrats are going to force Tillis to own and defend his “conservative revolution.” The common thread in these incidents is an economic populism that reminds people of an unequal recovery in North Carolina where the wealthy are getting help but working class families are still struggling to get ahead. They also remind people why the legislature has a 28% approval rating and that Thom Tillis is responsible for it.
Tillis may have won Tuesday night, but he lost the week.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
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