Ahead of his formal announcement for Senate, former Rep. Wiley Nickel spoke at a packed “empty chair” town hall for Sen. Thom Tillis in March. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)
Former Rep. Wiley Nickel officially announced a 2026 campaign for U.S. Senate Wednesday, entering the Democratic primary for the opportunity to challenge incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) in the general election.
Nickel is a criminal defense attorney who served four years in the state Senate and two years in the U.S. House of Representatives before dropping his reelection bid in 2023 after his seat, the 13th Congressional District, was redrawn heavily favoring Republicans. He announced then that he would run in the state’s next Senate contest, filing with the Federal Election Commission as a candidate in December 2023.
Before moving to North Carolina to practice law in 2009, Nickel was a staffer for Vice President Al Gore and President Barack Obama. As a congressman, he was a member of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition and served on the Financial Services Committee.
His formal announcement comes as the 2026 Senate contest takes shape in North Carolina and around the country. Within the last week, Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Michigan State Rep. Mallory McMorrow also announced Senate bids for closely contested seats, giving clearer definition to a midterm that will give Democrats a shot at flipping both chambers of Congress.
An ardent Tillis critic
In posts on social media, Nickel took aim at Tillis as “the most vulnerable Republican in Washington” who “continues to cave to Trump and extremists,” singling out the senator’s lack of pushback to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency cuts.
“Trump is shredding our Constitution and tanking our economy. Thom Tillis lacks the courage to stand up to him — I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit on the sidelines,” Nickel wrote in announcing his bid. “I’m running to fight for a better future for North Carolinians. Join our campaign — let’s take back the Senate.”
Tillis faces a challenging path to reelection as ire toward him has grown among both moderates and the Republican base, with President Donald Trump reportedly soliciting primary challengers against him in 2026 amid anger over his perceived disloyalty. As the stock market spiraled Tuesday ahead of Trump’s tariffs on all trade, Tillis asked U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer during a Senate hearing, “Whose throat do I get to choke if this proves to be wrong?”
U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (left) and Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth (right) (Hegseth photo credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images. Tillis photo via Senate.gov)At the same time, Tillis has come under fire among detractors to his left over a refusal to vote against Trump on issues like the war in Ukraine and his controversial cabinet appointees. Most galling to his critics was the report that he promised Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s ex-sister-in-law that if she came forward with abuse allegations, his nomination would be halted, only to later cast the deciding vote in favor for him.
“When you fold once like that — when Trump says he’s going to primary you and Elon Musk says he’s going to spend a bunch of money — you will fold every single time,” Nickel said at an empty chair town hall for Tillis held last month. “His vote is no longer for North Carolinians; it is just for Donald Trump.”
In a preview of his Senate campaign stump speech, Nickel told Triangle voters at Raleigh Brewing Company in March that Tillis was “turning his back on all of us here” in acquiescing to Trump and Musk’s cuts to government agencies and services, including Social Security and Medicaid.
“Trump’s policies are hurting working families in North Carolina, but when Democrats have leverage in the U.S. Congress, we have to use it,” Nickel said. “We need to fight, we need to demand action from all of our representatives, Republicans and Democrats.”
“Now I have a call to action,” he added. “It’s a message for our elected officials, like Thom Tillis, to stop catering to Donald Trump, to stop hiding from your constituents, to stop lying to the American people and screwing them over with spineless votes.”
In a statement Wednesday morning, Tillis campaign manager Abby Roesch derided Nickel as a “radical left-wing trial lawyer who was a rubber stamp for Joe Biden’s failed liberal agenda.”
“Every vote he casts will be bought and paid for by his Democratic Party bosses and the fringe left-wing special interest groups that will bankroll his campaign,” Roesch said. “Next year, the choice for North Carolinians will be between a radical liberal trial lawyer and a commonsense conservative problem solver. We are ready for the fight.”
The state of the race
Nickel enters a race that will likely be among the most closely contested and expensive 2026 election battles given North Carolina’s critical role in determining control of the Senate.
Aside from Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), whose state was won by Kamala Harris in the presidential election, Tillis is the most vulnerable incumbent Republican up for reelection in 2026. For Democrats, any path to flipping the Senate likely runs through Tillis, as they would need to flip four Republican-held seats to retake the majority.
A key factor in the closeness of the upcoming race is Tillis’s unpopularity, with a March survey by Raleigh’s Public Policy Polling finding his approval rating deep in the negatives, with only 25% approving and 46% disapproving of his job performance. While the poll did not test Nickel against Tillis, it found Tillis trailing former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper 47% to 43% in a hypothetical matchup.
Tillis currently faces two declared primary challengers, moderate businessman Andy Nilsson and far-right author and former U.S. Navy JAG officer Don Brown, though neither has held elected office before.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and First Lady Kristin Cooper after the governor’s farewell address at Nash Community College in Rocky Mount on Dec. 18, 2024. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)Former Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, sunk by scandal in the 2024 governor’s race, publicly ruled out a run in January. Freshman Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-NC-10), a former U.S. Army Green Beret, has also been rumored as a Tillis challenger, and in March called out the senator for listing him on a campaign kick-off fundraiser without his knowledge.
Aside from the specter of a primary challenge, the other major domino to fall in North Carolina’s Senate race will be Cooper’s decision. While he told supporters “I’m not done” in his 2024 farewell address, he has remained circumspect when asked about specific plans. Expected to be a favorite in the primary if he runs, Cooper has maintained a public presence in North Carolina politics, blasting Judge Jefferson Griffin’s challenge to the Supreme Court election in January.
With his announcement Wednesday, Nickel becomes the only declared candidate for the Democratic Senate nomination thus far.
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