The following is a transcript of an interview with North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis on “Margaret Brennan Face the Nation” on October 25, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Now I give the floor to North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who joins us this morning from Charlotte. Good morning, sir.
Senator Thom Tillis: Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Before we set some policies, I want to ask you to be the expert. Voters see corruption as a major factor, with 83% saying it is an issue in deciding their vote, and they believe it is more of a Republican issue, a CBS poll showed. How does your party overcome this perception?
Sen. Tillis: Well, I think part of what we have to do is be transparent about what we’re doing right and where we’re slipping into gray areas. I’ll give you a good example of why I think people feel this way. You can’t ask an oligarch to pay tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for the president’s son’s wedding without it looking weird, especially when that oligarch is allied with Putin and traveling with Putin’s delegation to Beijing. This is just an example. What we need to do is learn to figure out where the line is and take a step back, otherwise the American people have tended to think that Democrats and Republicans are corrupt. When we allow things like this to happen, whether legal or not, we are just fueling that narrative. It doesn’t matter.
Margaret Brennan: Yes. Well, if the Democrats do win the majority, it seems like they might do some scrutiny. You wouldn’t be in the Senate then. You are retiring. You were deeply frustrated with Republicans when they voted along party lines to pass this tax and spending bill that includes cuts to Medicaid and will deeply impact rural hospitals. More than 25% of people in your state rely on Medicaid. I know North Carolina is trying to patch things up here to plan ahead. Do you still expect devastating health care cuts in the new year?
Sen. Tillis: We’re going to face tremendous resistance. If you look at the original bill, it’s really a decade-long impact. By the way, I support the tax provisions of the bill, but the health care provisions outside of the House proposal are problematic, and that will take time. What I want to do is not necessarily get rid of the cuts, but try to influence the timeline of them. I think they came too early, and I have a lot of experience with state budgeting in North Carolina, knowing Medicaid. I believe it’s going to be very, very challenging and we’ve got to get it – we’ve done our job because some of these impacts could also directly impact the 2029 election.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So health care is going to be a big factor in this election, is that your prediction? Sounds like it. I want to ask you——
Sen. Tillis: –absolutely–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –about some of my contacts with the attorney general. In recent weeks, the Justice Department has filed the case in Alaska to preemptively challenge the results there. In California, the Justice Department also told election officials they risk “legal consequences” if they continue to send mail-in ballots to a list of voters they say are not yet confirmed to be citizens. Of course, there are also actions taken against Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, although she has not yet been charged with a crime. Do you see a pattern here? Are you satisfied with these actions leading up to the election?
Sen. Tillis: Well, I think we have to be careful. First, you have to separate them. California has been guilty of vote harvesting. They have policies to do this. Their system is ripe for abuse and needs attention. There was a candidate in Alaska who happened to have the same name as a friend and colleague I came with in 2014, and they also had ranked-choice voting. So I thought it would be appropriate to take a look. I don’t know why they felt they had to file a lawsuit, other than what Todd said before, making sure the votes were cast correctly so we can be sure the Democrats didn’t successfully confuse the candidate to vote for someone else, thereby better positioning Pertola to be the winner. As for Omar, I have to look at the details there, but I find it very concerning. You know, as a member of Congress, you better have a very, very high bar for issuing subpoenas and search warrants, and the facts better be out there. Otherwise, the Department of Justice needs to be held accountable. It’s that simple. If so, I would say the same thing, I was in the Biden administration in the past and I felt like they were getting a little ahead of themselves and they better have facts to back up their actions.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, I think it all comes down to timing because whether or not the case actually has merit, the action itself is going to draw attention and scrutiny. But in Alaska, your Republican colleague, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, another Republican, said the Justice Department should not have brought charges at all. Alaskans don’t need help picking a preferred candidate when it comes time to vote, she said. The state already dealt with the issue by distinguishing between candidates on the ballot, and the Justice Department should never have filed a lawsuit. You sit in the judiciary. I mean, what are the consequences? Will there be one?
Sen. TILLIS: Well, few people know Alaska better than Lisa. Honestly, Lisa Murkowski is a friend and an outstanding United States Senator. I agree – I think a lawsuit – I mean, a lawsuit before there’s any provable legal issue –
(crosstalk)
MARGARET BRENNAN: –even before that–
Sen. Tillis: —I feel suspicious—
MARGARET BRENNAN: –the election has been held.
(end crosstalk)
Sen. Tillis: –I practice justice, but I’m not a lawyer — yes, that’s what I mean. It’s almost a preemptive move, a putative gesture, rather than simply telling Alaska election officials that we’re going to be watching this closely because it’s clear that Democrats are gaming the system by putting Dan Sullivan on the ballot. Regardless of the Democrats, there is some evidence that Chuck Schumer might even be involved. So I don’t mind looking at it, but I do mind – a lawsuit being filed before we know whether the facts substantiating the lawsuit actually occurred.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Dan Sullivan claims he’s not a Democrat, but there are reports that a Democratic strategist may have helped him along the way, but the truth is —
Sen. Tillis: –that’s a strange coincidence. We all admit this.
Margaret Brennan: Without a doubt, without a doubt. But the state has handled it, and apparently the senator thinks it’s been handled well. I want to go back to Vladimir Putin because you have been very vocal in recent days about your concerns about President Trump and his behavior. Just yesterday, Musk said that SpaceX satellite service has been restored, and last week North Dakota Senator Cramer, who was involved in the plan, told us that despite his concerns that one person or company has too much control over the United States’ ability to protect the space sector. You know, people may be confused about what services are turned on and off and to what extent, but the bigger issue that your Republican colleagues seem to be concerned about is how much control Elon Musk has over national defense. Do you share the same concerns?
Sen. Tillis: Yes, I do, and I’m concerned about where this whole story is going. Elon Musk, I try to put pressure on everybody to hold them accountable. Elon Musk initially said he didn’t do that. And then we started looking at government, and now we’re hearing Elon say he did, to the American people, to a lot of members of Congress, the difference between Starlink and StarShield. Are you telling me — I agree with Kevin Cramer; he’s a great senator as well. Are you telling me that we don’t know something important, like that a tool we in the West use is influenced by the whims of a CEO, and that some other star defense is controlled by him, by someone in the Department of Defense? We need an answer to this question, but I’m not satisfied. I’m glad these abilities are supported. Shame on whoever was responsible for this because it is in the past. People died during that time. But what I’d rather know is, to what extent are the Department of Defense and — and the U.S. government involved in this? I know it’s a private company, but they’re getting into the military space, the geopolitical space. It seems to me that there have to be some guardrails – guardrails and accountability.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, I know you helped organize a conference call last week with Senator Blumenthal and President Zelensky to try to clarify this issue. As far as you know, are all arrangements to expand access and allow Ukraine to target Russian territory now on hold?
Sen. Tillis: You know, all we can tell you is that while we appreciate that all we’re doing is rebuilding our current capacity, I’m concerned that we’re not expanding it. Look, there’s a bad guy here and there’s a good country. The bad guy is Vladimir Putin. A good country is Ukraine. We, like the rest of Western Europe, need to support them, expand capabilities and defeat Putin. Putin is not a friend. When you’re dealing with the tyrants, the totalitarians in the Western world, there’s no win-win. So we need to build that capability and not just be thankful for what worked well two weeks ago, what worked well when I was in Ukraine a month ago.
MARGARET BRENNAN: In the back-and-forth about what exactly was shut down and why Russia was able to carry out so many strikes inside Ukraine in the last 10 days, it became clear that the early warning system was also malfunctioning. Two, if not three, BC-3 systems failed to detect Russian ballistic missiles entering Ukraine. Secretary Rubio was asked about this and he talked about the technical issues. This sounds deeply worrying. I mean, does this mean that Russia can subvert the U.S. early warning system, or are we misunderstanding this?
Sen. Tillis: I think that’s a legitimate question. That’s why I think the entire timeline needs to be reviewed, probably in a secure environment and not necessarily in a public hearing. But we need to look back at the entire timeline and seriously say, guys, we are so vulnerable. I don’t think we are, so I’m starting to think that maybe we’re subtly avoiding the reality that someone needs to take responsibility for a service failure, and it’s happening at the same time that Starlink or Star-Star Shield capabilities are degrading. Guys, let’s plot this out. I don’t mind the American people. Never mind that people make mistakes, never mind that the policies they decide must be pursued – they must be reversed. But this game of “who made the first strike”, who actually made the call, and who is responsible, is unacceptable. We are the greatest nation – we are an extraordinary nation, the greatest nation on earth. This is a simple question. We should have a simple answer to this.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we’re going to keep trying to find out, sir. Thank you, Senator, for taking the time today.
Sen. Tillis: Thank you.
Margaret Brennan: We’ll be back soon.