President Donald Trump is rallying in Greenville, North Carolina, on Tuesday, campaigning for Republican Senate nominee Michael Whatley, who is running for the seat of retiring GOP Senator Thom Tillis.
The rally comes as Tillis has warned that Republicans are heading for a midterm “train wreck.”
In a new interview with Politico, the retiring two-term Senator said Republicans could lose the House and face a difficult fight to retain their majority in the upper chamber. Tillis said he has even marked the countdown to the November 3 election on his phone with the blunt label of “Whoop Ass,” as he warned Republicans face a voter rebuke if the party fails to recognize the political risks of their current approach.'
The president's visit to North Carolina comes as he has campaigned in a number of battlegrounds, attempting to build support for GOP candidates like Whatley, who is facing former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper in one of the most closely watched contests of the 2026 midterms.
Republicans are hoping to rally enough support to stave off a blue wave as Democrats push to take control of both chambers of Congress for the remaining two years of Trump's White House term. Democrats see North Carolina as a top opportunity to gain a seat. They need to defend all of their seats and flip four Republican seats to take control of the Senate.
Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks at 7 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday at Pitt-Greenville Airport in Greenville, according to the Republican Party's event announcement.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House for comment.
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North Carolina Senate Race: Michael Whatley Faces Roy Cooper
North Carolina is a critical battleground for both parties. It last elected a Democrat to Senate in 2008, but Cooper has proven popular and served two terms as governor. Trump has endorsed Whatley, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, as the Republican nominee.
The race has become increasingly challenging for the GOP, with Cooper seeking to turn the contest into a referendum on the president's record and the direction of his administration. A recent WRAL/WSOC poll reported Cooper leading Whatley 54 percent to 40 percent among likely voters, with 5 percent undecided.
Tillis questioned the GOP's choice of Senate nominee in North Carolina, arguing that Whatley's background as a former state Republican Party chairman and RNC chairman could make it harder for him to appeal to unaffiliated voters.
“We needed probably a more moderate type of profile,” Tillis told Politico, saying Republicans needed to win over voters beyond their core base.
The party has also begun pulling funds out of the race, with Republican Senate Leadership Fund spending originally intended to support Whatley now being redirected to other contests.
Thom Tillis Warns Trump's Advisers Could Cost GOP the Midterms
In the interview, Tillis said Trump has been poorly served by advisers and top officials, singling out Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy. The retiring senator acknowledged that the president often acted autonomously with some controversial decisions, but argued that firing his advisers "will change his behavior because you can’t possibly think that every single idea is his coming out of this administration."
"He’s going to be whoever he is. The only thing I can change are the people around him that may be able to tamp down some of those emotions but also not come up with really, really, really s***ty ideas that he implements," he added.
Tillis said the GOP needs to focus on undecided voters and that policies such as Trump's trade wars, foreign policy threats and what he described as a “public execution of a guy in a wheelchair," referring to Hegseth's plans for a televised public execution, risked alienating them.
"In the midst of an election cycle where anybody with a brain should know we only win if we get enough undecided, unaffiliated voters our way," he said.
Tillis said he expects Republicans to lose control of the House in November, but argued that the Senate remains within reach.
“They’re going to read it as a mandate to be against everything Trump does, versus trying to find a way to work together,” he said of Democrats if they take control of Congress.
Tillis predicted Republicans could finish with 50 or 51 Senate seats, but warned that the party’s difficulties could extend beyond the midterms if Trump doubles down rather than adjusts course.
He suggested that a more cooperative relationship with a potentially Democratic-controlled House could give Republicans an opportunity to demonstrate a different governing approach. Such a shift, however, would require Trump and his advisers to accept the possibility that voters are dissatisfied with aspects of the administration's performance.
“If, on the other hand, you extend an olive branch and say, ‘The people have spoken, we’re going to do things a little bit differently,’” he said, Republicans could limit further electoral damage.
Thom Tillis Warns Trump's Coalition May Not Last Beyond 2026
Beyond the immediate midterm elections, Tillis questioned whether the coalition of Trump voters can remain together long term once the party moves beyond the president's personal appeal.
"I think he's lost sight," Tillis said of Trump's second term when asked if he'd been good for the party. He warned that the GOP risks losing voters who were attracted to Trump's political style or promises but do not necessarily identify with the party's broader conservative agenda.
"What he’s done is he’s created a coalition that, in my opinion, will not stay with Republicans once we go back to traditional Republican platform priorities. I think a lot of the elements of the populism that Trump created to expand a base that made him successful running for president, I don’t think that stays with the party long term," he added.
Tillis also raised concerns about the 2028 presidential election, arguing that another cycle dominated by loyalty to Trump could create additional problems for Republicans if the party fails to adjust after the midterms.