A retiring Republican senator announced plans to block election security legislation hours after the White House released declassified information about Chinese interference in the 2020 presidential election.
On Friday morning, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina took to the Senate floor and pledged to use procedural tactics to prevent the SAVE America Act from advancing. The announcement came less than 24 hours after President Trump declassified documents describing alleged Chinese efforts to influence the 2020 election, including targeting swing states and directing resources toward specific candidates.
What the Declassified Information Showed
The declassified materials alleged that Chinese officials worked to interfere in the 2020 election through multiple channels, according to administration officials. The documents cited by the White House claimed foreign actors engaged in a coordinated campaign involving media influence and pressure on American business leaders.
The administration also cited figures showing that more than 250,000 noncitizens are registered to vote across four states: California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada. Election security officials did not immediately provide independent verification of these numbers.
Senator’s Opposition to Election Security Measure
Tillis stated on the Senate floor that he would use
The timing couldn’t be more perfectly damning. Thursday night, the President of the United States went on national television and showed the country declassified evidence that China actively worked to steal the 2020 election — targeting swing states, paying journalists to write negative stories about Trump, using business contracts to pressure American executives, and directing resources specifically toward defeating him.
In addition, the administration has found that more than 250,000 non-citizens are registered to vote in just four states – California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada.
But on Friday morning, retiring RINO Thom Tillis took to the Senate floor and vowed to use “every device” available to him to stop election security legislation from passing.
Let that sequence sink in. China interfered. A quarter million illegals are registered voters. And Tillis is blocking the fix.
Standing on the Senate floor nearly shouting, the retiring North Carolina Republican promised that if the SAVE America Act provisions appear in Reconciliation 3.0, he will personally grind Senate business to a halt until they’re removed. “I will use every device I have available to slow down the wheels of government until people cop a clue and do the math,” Tillis said — nearly word for word repeating the same threat he’s been making for months while the SAVE America Act dies in the upper chamber.
The “math” Tillis keeps referencing is his claim that there isn’t enough time before November to implement the bill’s requirements even if it passes. It’s a convenient argument. It’s also one that could be made against virtually any election security measure at virtually any point in any election cycle — and that’s precisely why it’s so dangerous. If “not enough time” is always the answer, election security legislation can never pass. Which appears to be exactly the outcome Tillis prefers.
The deeper question — the one independent journalist Sara Gonzales asked him directly in a hallway confrontation that Tillis found so irritating he mentioned it on the Senate floor — is why. Why does a Republican senator fight so hard against legislation that 80% of Americans support? Gonzales pointed out that Tillis has received nearly $700,000 in donations from industries tied to cheap illegal labor. He walked away from the question. Then complained about it publicly the next day, which is about as close to a confirmation as you can get without actually answering.
The SAVE America Act requires proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to vote. China was paying journalists and targeting swing states to defeat a sitting American president. The connection between those two facts is not subtle.
The retiring Tillis wants to make sure the second fact can happen again. January 2027 cannot come fast enough.
