Thom Tillis is behaving like the moderate he promised to be. That’s about to be tested.

Thom Tillis has always seemed unsure of who he wants to be.

The Republican senator joined a bipartisan group of colleagues this week in announcing a deal on the Respect for Marriage Act, one that helped the bill reach the 60 votes necessary to become law. The bill advanced in the Senate in a 62-37 vote Wednesday, with both Tillis and retiring Sen. Richard Burr supporting it.

Supporting the Respect for Marriage Act signaled a political evolution for Tillis, who oversaw efforts to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in North Carolina in 2012 and continued to defend it even after it was overturned. (At the time, Tillis said marriage equality was a “generational issue” and the ban would probably be reversed in 20 years, anyway.)

We’ve seen a lot of different Thom Tillises over the years, and trying to keep track of them would give anyone a serious case of political whiplash. There’s spineless Thom Tillis, the man who falls in line with his fellow Republicans to avoid political risk to himself. There’s Tillis the flip-flopper, who often says one thing and ends up doing another.

Tillis campaigned for Senate in 2014 on the promise that he would represent all of his purple state constituents. Unfortunately for North Carolina, he then proceeded to spend several years kowtowing to Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s worst instincts. But with Trump out of the White House, Tillis has finally begun to resemble the leader he’s long said he would be: an independent voice willing to work across the aisle to make a difference.

Throughout the past year, Tillis has emerged as a thoughtful and productive leader in the Senate, helping to further bipartisan legislation on key issues, including NATO expansion, a gun law compromise and Electoral Count Act reform. Tillis has also become somewhat of a kingmaker in North Carolina politics — he played a role in the ousting of embattled Rep. Madison Cawthorn in the May primary and has used his leadership PAC to financially support Republican candidates in federal and state races.

Tillis has a tendency to play all sides, and it’s a strategy that mostly just ends up making everyone angry. It’s what made him one of the most vulnerable members of the Senate prior to his re-election — a race he might have lost if not for Cal Cunningham’s politically fatal attraction.

We’ve still seen shades of the flip-flopping Tillis of old. During Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings in March, Tillis lauded Jackson’s qualifications and “historic” nomination, but voted against confirming her in the end. In August, Tillis voted against expanding veterans’ benefits through the PACT Act, even though it was a bill he helped craft.

Still, that’s been bookended by the bipartisanship that Tillis has often talked about but only sometimes delivered. We’re encouraged, but with a presidential election looming, he will soon face a test: does this version of Thom Tillis only exist when Donald Trump isn’t in the room?

Embracing Trump was what helped Tillis fend off a primary challenge in 2020, and he will almost certainly face pressure to support him again in the near future. The closer the Republican Party gets to Trump, the further it strays from democracy. Tillis’ work on marriage equality and gun safety has already made him unpopular with many Republican voters, who call him a “RINO” and “Traitor Thom.” Is he willing to risk his job for the good of his constituents and his country?

We’re not saying Thom Tillis should be a Democrat. But he does need to remember that many of the voters he represents are. Many others are unaffiliated or independent voters, and they would like a senator who charts his own path instead of letting others in his party yank him to the right.

This story was originally published November 19, 2022 at 4:00 AM with the headline "Thom Tillis is behaving like the moderate he promised to be. That’s about to be tested.."