With a one-word reminder, Thom Tillis tells GOP to skip Mark Robinson in 2026
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US Sen. Thom Tillis & NC Senate race
U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican who has represented North Carolina in Washington for a decade , announced June 29, 2025, he won’t seek reelection amid dissent with President Donald Trump. The Huntersville resident, a former speaker of the state House of Representatives, was first elected to the Senate in 2014. Here is coverage of the announcement and what it means for the 2026 Senate race.
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After U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis dropped out of the 2026 Senate race, he also dropped a significant diss on social media.
There was already no love loss between Tillis and former Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who had a crushing loss in the 2024 governor’s race to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein. The loss came after the bombshell CNN Kfile report tying Robinson to a series of hateful, racist and sexually explicit online posts on a pornographic website, including calling himself a “Black Nazi.”
The username for his posts was “minisoldr,” the same username Robinson has used for many less controversial posts.
After Tillis’ announcement Sunday, which came the same weekend President Donald Trump attacked him on social media for criticizing Trump’s major spending bill, Tillis posted on X: “Thanks for the retirement wishes, Mr. President, looking forward to working with you for a successful 2026. Word to the wise, let’s avoid minisoldr.”
In the post, Tillis quoted another post sharing a News & Observer story from a year ago about Robinson, but didn’t name him aside from the “minisoldr” username.
Most of Robinson’s campaign staff quit in September, days after the report and after Robinson turned down offers from the staff to use technology to help clear his name. And within a few more days, much of his lieutenant governor staff quit, too.
Tillis, U.S. Sen. Ted Budd and former Republican State Treasurer Dale Folwell were among those who criticized Robinson and told him to prove the report wrong, which Robinson never did. Robinson denied the posts were his, just ahead of CNN’s investigation airing.
In December, The Assembly reported that Robinson continued to use his “minisoldr” username.
Robinson’s username on X, however, is MarkRobinsonNC. When the news came out about Tillis on Sunday, Robinson used the platform to chime in, quoting a post from Matt Hurley, who briefly worked for Robinson’s gubernatorial campaign after everyone else quit. Hurley wrote that “Thom Tillis is the end of a terrible era in North Carolina politics. ....”
“I couldn’t have said it better,” Robinson posted.
Robinson posted again about Tillis, this time quoting his own post from 2024 that “Thom is toast” and a headstone emoji, and adding,“this aged nicely.”
No prominent Republicans, as of Monday afternoon, have declared they will run in the 2026 Republican primary for Tillis’ seat.
On the Democratic side, former U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel, who also served in the state Senate, is running. Former Gov. Roy Cooper has not so far announced a run, though many Democrats hope he will join the race. After Cooper left office, he said repeatedly that he wanted to continue in public service.
With no incumbent, both the Republican and Democratic Senate primaries will likely get national attention.
This story was originally published June 30, 2025 at 5:43 PM with the headline "With a one-word reminder, Thom Tillis tells GOP to skip Mark Robinson in 2026."
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