The North Carolina senator has announced he won’t be seeking reelection in 2026.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who announced he wouldn’t seek reelection following his decision to vote down President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill earlier this month, on Wednesday slammed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as “out of his depth” in his role at the Pentagon.

In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Tillis, who voted to confirm Hegseth in the job, suggested his performance hasn’t been up to the task so far, citing his involvement in a Signal group chat scandal and a recent decision by the Pentagon to pause critical arm shipments to Ukraine that he described as “amateurish.”

“Now, with the passing of time, I think it’s clear he’s out of his depth as a manager of a large, complex organization,” Tillis said.

Still, the GOP senator said that he stands by his decision to support Hegseth’s confirmation at the time.

“If all I had was the information on the day of the vote, I’d certainly vote for him again,” Tillis said. “But now I have the information of him being a manager, and I don’t think that his probationary period has been very positive.”

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Hegseth was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in January following a contentious debate over his fitness to serve in the role given his limited leadership experience and allegations about excessive drinking and domestic abuse.

While Tillis had originally told the White House he would oppose Hegseth’s nomination, he ended up falling in line following pressure from GOP leaders who made clear he would face the wrath of Trump’s MAGA allies if he crossed the president, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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Since taking over as defense secretary, Hegseth has faced scrutiny over reports that he shared sensitive information about an impending military attack on Houthi targets in two separate group chats on Signal, a commercial messaging app.

More recently, Hegseth announced a pause to some weapons deliveries to Ukraine without consulting Trump, according to CNN. While the White House denied that Hegseth failed to provide advance notice to the president, Trump announced the shipments would resume shortly after, reversing Hegseth’s call.

“I mean, this whole idea of having a pause in Ukraine defensive arms, that’s just amateurish. I mean, that’s from somebody who doesn’t understand large organization dynamics,” Tillis said of Hegseth.

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Earlier this month, Tills, a centrist Republican, abruptly announced he wouldn’t be seeking reelection in 2026 after Trump attacked him for opposing his tax and spending bill. Tillis had expressed concern about the Medicaid cuts included in the legislation and how it would affect some of his most vulnerable constituents and Republicans’ prospects in future elections.

Still, Tillis made clear he doesn’t have any issues with the president.

“I got a problem with some of the people I consider to be amateurs advising him,” he told CNN.

“So I want to make it very clear to them guys, when you act like the president, when he’s out of the room, you don’t impress me,” he continued. “And they’ll hear more of that in the coming months.”