Senator Tillis calls vote for Hegseth 'biggest regret' in new book
Republican senator also criticises Trump's actions and predicts midterm losses in memoir.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Senator Tillis calls vote for Hegseth 'biggest regret' in new book
Photograph: Washington Top News (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Republican Senator Thom Tillis stated in his new book that his vote to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in January 2025 is his "biggest regret of my career".
- Tillis also wrote that he "should’ve stopped" Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from becoming Health and Human Services secretary.
- The senator criticised former President Trump's policies, including tariffs, immigration raids, and the Iran war, and predicted a "bloodbath" for Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.
- Tillis indicated that many Republican colleagues privately expressed reservations about Trump's actions but publicly supported him.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 11 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 2 of the 13 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
42/100
Craft
61/100
Hype
20/100
13 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
None of the 11 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Senator Thom Tillis has written in a new book that his deciding vote to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in January 2025 represents the "biggest regret of my career." The North Carolina senator also stated he "should’ve stopped" Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from becoming Health and Human Services secretary. Tillis's book, titled "How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents," is set to be published soon. He is currently in his final months in office, having announced last year that he would not seek re-election.
In his book, Tillis writes that he believed many Republicans privately expressed reservations about former President Trump's actions but publicly supported him. He stated that at least 30 GOP colleagues had expressed reservations "to put it mildly" about many of the president's actions in private, but offered only positive public statements. Tillis also criticises Trump's tariffs, immigration raids, and the Iran war, and predicts a "bloodbath" for Republicans in the upcoming November midterm elections.
Disagreements on coverage
Washington Top News reported that Tillis "mostly deflects full blame from Trump, saying, 'my beef is not with him, but the idiots he’s got working for him.'" The same report states Tillis calls the president "an amazing political talent." Joe.My.God. reported that Tillis "unloads on what he calls the 'WTF moments' of the second Trump Administration" and is "increasingly worried about how the nation’s system of checks and balances is being tested by the outsized influence of the executive branch."
What the coverage left out
None of the left-rated or centre-rated reports printed below mention Senator Tillis's prediction of a "bloodbath" for Republicans in the upcoming November midterm elections. The digests from WBAL, Winnipeg Free Press, WKMG, and KXL do not include specific details about Tillis's criticisms of Trump's tariffs, immigration raids, or the Iran war.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 5 Oct 2026, 20:30, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.

Senator Tillis calls vote for Hegseth 'biggest regret' in new book
Joe.My.God. — embedded from source
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
4 rated outlets
- The left-rated reports from Joe.My.God., The Mercury News, and The Seattle Times led with Senator Tillis calling his vote to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth his "biggest regret of my career." Joe.My.God. also highlighted Tillis's concerns about the executive branch's influence and his calls for colleagues to stand up to executive power. The Mercury News and The Seattle Times digests focused solely on the regret over the Hegseth vote.
Centre
7 rated outlets
- The centre-rated reports from Washington Top News, WBAL, Winnipeg Free Press, WKMG, and Political Wire all highlighted Senator Tillis's statement that his vote to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in January 2025 is the "biggest regret of my career." Washington Top News also included Tillis's regret over supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS secretary and his criticisms of Trump's policies and his prediction of a "bloodbath" for Republicans in the midterms. Political Wire noted Tillis's regret over the "pivotal vote" and quoted him calling Hegseth "an actor" and "not a manager."
Right
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Senator Tillis calls vote for Hegseth 'biggest regret' in new book?
- Of the 11 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 36% are rated left, 64% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 13. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Senator Tillis calls vote for Hegseth 'biggest regret' in new book left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 11 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Senator Tillis calls vote for Hegseth 'biggest regret' in new book biased?
- Senator Tillis calls vote for Hegseth 'biggest regret' in new book is one event reported by 13 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Senator Tillis calls vote for Hegseth 'biggest regret' in new book?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Senator Tillis calls vote for Hegseth 'biggest regret' in new book?
- 13 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What does Senator Thom Tillis regret most according to his new book?
- According to his new book, Senator Thom Tillis states that his "biggest regret of my career" was his deciding vote to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in January 2025. He also expressed regret over his vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary.
- What criticisms does Tillis make of Donald Trump in his book?
- Senator Tillis criticises former President Trump's policies in his book, specifically mentioning tariffs, immigration raids, and the Iran war. He also writes that many Republican colleagues privately expressed reservations about Trump's actions but publicly supported him.
- What does Tillis predict for the Republican party?
- In his book, Senator Tillis predicts a "bloodbath" for Republicans in the upcoming November midterm elections. He also warns of a slippery slope toward authoritarianism and urges his colleagues to push back on executive overreach.
Read it at the source
13 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
4- Sen. Tillis says his vote for Hegseth was 'biggest regret of my career' in new book (opens PBS NewsHour in a new tab)
PBS NewsHour — is PBS NewsHour biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Republican Sen. Tillis calls his vote for Hegseth the ‘biggest regret of my career’ in a new book (opens The Mercury news in a new tab)
The Mercury news — is The Mercury news biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Republican Sen. Tillis calls his vote for Hegseth the ‘biggest regret of my career’ in a new book (opens The Seattle Times in a new tab)
The Seattle Times — is The Seattle Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Tillis: My Biggest Regret Is Voting To Confirm Hegseth (opens Joe.My.God. in a new tab)
Joe.My.God. — is Joe.My.God. biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
Centre
7- Republican Sen. Tillis calls his vote for Hegseth the 'biggest regret of my career' in a new book (opens WCCB Charlotte in a new tab)
WCCB Charlotte — is WCCB Charlotte biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Republican Sen. Tillis calls his vote for Hegseth the ‘biggest regret of my career’ in a new book (opens My Mother Lode in a new tab)
My Mother Lode — is My Mother Lode biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Republican Sen. Tillis calls his vote for Hegseth the ‘biggest regret of my career’ in a new book – WTOP News (opens Washington Top News in a new tab)
Washington Top News — is Washington Top News biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Republican Sen. Tillis calls his vote for Hegseth the 'biggest re (opens WBAL in a new tab)
- Republican Sen. Tillis calls his vote for Hegseth the 'biggest regret of my career' in a new book (opens Winnipeg Free Press in a new tab)
Winnipeg Free Press — is Winnipeg Free Press biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Republican Sen. Tillis calls his vote for Hegseth the 'biggest regret of my career' in a new book (opens WKMG in a new tab)
- Thom Tillis Regrets Pivotal Vote to Confirm Hegseth (opens Political Wire in a new tab)
Political Wire — is Political Wire biased? Our profile of this outlet
Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
2How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

