Tillis blasts GOP’s ‘lazy and unstrategic’ handling of Texas GOP primary, SAVE Act

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) says he’s getting tired of Republicans being “lazy and unstrategic” amid intraparty disputes over both the SAVE America Act and the messy Republican primary runoff in Texas between Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and state Attorney General Bill Paxton.

Tillis vented his frustrations to CNN’s Manu Raju in a clip aired over the weekend in which the North Carolina senator questioned the strategy over bringing the SAVE America Act, a bill to reform voting nationwide, to the floor this week as well as the failure to secure Trump’s endorsement in the Texas GOP runoff.

“People on my side of the aisle and people at the far right of the political spectrum are trying to swing for the fences and they’re not going to succeed,” said Tillis, who has announced he’s not running for reelection. He was referring to the push to pass legislation to require proof of citizenship for voter registration and to restrict mail-in voting, which doesn’t have close to the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate.

Tillis remarked on what he views as the unrealistic expectations about passing the SAVE America Act, which may have delayed Trump from making an endorsement in the Texas GOP primary.

As a result of Trump’s prolonged neutrality in Texas, Cornyn and Paxton are continuing to battle for the GOP nomination, sucking up tens of millions of dollars in party resources.

Asked whether Trump delaying a potential endorsement of Cornyn is a “mistake,” Tillis said the “Republican-on-Republican violence” needs to end.

“I think the more time we spend millions of dollars with Republican-on-Republican violence, Democrats in the marketing department are loving the idea of a competitive runoff between Cornyn and Paxton,” he said.

“I get tired of Republicans being lazy and unstrategic,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) warned last week that it would be a mistake to link a presidential endorsement in the Texas GOP primary to the outcome of the Senate debate on the SAVE America Act, which he says is unlikely to pass.

“Yeah, I mean, that’s probably not a linkage that is in anybody’s best interest because voting on the SAVE America Act is something we can do but passage is not guaranteed,” Thune said. “You have to make political decisions independent of what the final disposition of that might be on the floor.”

Thune last month warned that Democrats could come away with an upset victory in the Texas Senate race if they get a favorable candidate matchup in the general election.

“Honestly, if you look at the polling in a general election setting, I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility that the seat [flips], depending on who the Democrats nominate,” he said.

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