Thomas Roland Tillis (born August 30, 1960) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from North Carolina, a seat he has held since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Tillis served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 2007 to 2015, and as its speaker from 2011 to 2015. As speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Tillis led the Republican effort to block the expansion of Medicaid and worked to introduce restrictions on abortion, stringent voting requirements, and a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Tillis was elected to the Senate in 2014, defeating Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan, and reelected in 2020, defeating Democratic nominee Cal Cunningham. In the Senate, he has sought to roll back and repeal the Affordable Care Act, proposed a 15-year pathway to citizenship for some undocumented youth as a more conservative alternative to the bipartisan DREAM Act, and voted for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which provided state funding for red flag laws, crises intervention orders and school safety resources. Tillis initially opposed President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration to divert funding to a border wall, but voted for it after pressure from his party. His views on same-sex marriage evolved over time, and in 2022 he voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, which repealed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and codified same-sex and interracial marriage into federal law. Early life and education Tillis was born in Jacksonville, Florida, the son of Margie and Thomas Raymond Tillis, a boat draftsman. He was the oldest boy among six children, with three older sisters. One of his brothers, Rick Tillis, served in the Tennessee House of Representatives. By age 17, his family had moved 20 times, and Tillis never attended the same school in consecutive years, living in New Orleans and Nashville, among other places. Following his 1978 graduation from high school, Tillis left home to get a job. He then attended Chattanooga State Community College before receiving a Bachelor of Science in technology management from the University of Maryland University College in 1996. Career After high school, Tillis worked at Provident Life and Accident Insurance Co. in Chattanooga, Tennessee, helping computerize records in conjunction with Wang Laboratories, a computer company in Boston. Wang eventually hired Tillis to work in its Boston office. He spent two and a half years there before being transferred back to Chattanooga, and