(The Center Square) – Democrats in North Carolina have their first challenger to Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis in the November 2026 election cycle.
Wiley Nickel, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, said on Wednesday he will campaign for the six-year term seat. Tillis is in his second term and yet to announce intentions.
In a release, Nickel said, “Donald Trump is shredding our Constitution and billionaires are cutting Medicare, dismantling FEMA, and taking a sledgehammer to our education system. It’s happening right now, and Thom Tillis is cheering them on. North Carolinians are struggling with rising costs, low wages, and a senator who cares more about his own career than helping them. I can’t sit on the sidelines and watch it happen.”
In the 2-minute, 15-second video clip, Nickel uses a familiar refrain from his party to show an image of Elon Musk in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump and say the latter is “shredding the Constitution” and “unelected billionaires are wreaking havoc.”
Trump created the Department of Government Efficiency, it is led by Musk, and he along with others in the administration – as with those teams of other American presidents – are not required to be elected.
Nickel was a one-term congressman, declining to run for reelection and protesting congressional maps drawn by the state Legislature in the 2024 cycle. Prior to that, he won two terms in the state Senate.
“I’m running for the U.S. Senate,” Nickel said, “because it’s time for a new generation of leaders in Washington with a fresh vision and a whole lot of fight in them.”
