NC Sen. Tillis says both sides were wrong in Padilla-Noem dispute, Lander’s detainment

California Sen. Alex Padilla was in the wrong, and so too was the team safeguarding Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, says arguably one of the nation’s most vulnerable U.S. senators in the 2026 election cycle.

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., took to the Senate floor a day after Padilla and nearly a week since the West Coast encounter that grabbed the news cycle briefly ahead a hullabaloo weekend of celebrating the Army and protesting the president’s administration. Tillis, with clarity, said his Democratic friend Padilla was in the wrong choosing a press conference as the avenue for confronting Noem, and said security was wrong to take him to the floor.

He also alluded to “a dustup in New York,” a reference to Brad Lander being detained at a courthouse accused of obstructing federal lawmen making an arrest. Lander is comptroller of New York City and a candidate for mayor.

“We have to get to a point where elected officials have to take some responsibility for their actions,” Tillis said.

He gave the parallel of Senate media availability in two places in their building and said it would be wrong for him to interrupt Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. there or “in the field” as did Padilla.

“Sen. Padilla should have found a better way to elevate his concerns to the secretary of Homeland Security,” said Tillis, senior-most of North Carolina’s 16 Beltway members behind only Reps. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., and Alma Adams, D-N.C. “Having said that, there were people in that building who knew he was a U.S. senator. The minute he was removed from that situation in that briefing room, then they should have treated him with respect and allowed him to disperse.”

And then he most likely, in the wake of the No Kings protests on Saturday, provided fodder for potential political rivals.

“It was disgusting to see somebody – anybody, but particularly a U.S. senator in a federal building,” he said.

President Donald Trump’s authority as commander in chief and actions by people he is responsible for choosing – more than 1,000 positions require Senate confirmation – were the driver of the organized protests. Tillis immediately drew criticism for suggesting preferential treatment.

Tillis spoke on two subjects. The other involved a person in the country illegally who previously served as an interpreter to the U.S. military for three years while in Afghanistan. One of his family was murdered, he fled initially to Iran, then Brazil before making it to America. Tillis’ point, he said, was not all situations for deportation are the same, not that this particular case warranted a stay in the U.S.

If the senator’s speech is judged moderate, it falls in line with the trend of North Carolina voter registrations. Residents have fled both parties and chosen unaffiliated registration, growing that voting bloc to the state’s largest (37.8% unaffiliated, 30.7% Democrats, 30.4% Republicans).

Tillis’ seat is pivotal to the majority in the chamber. It's been 17 years since North Carolinians sent a Democrat to the Senate. Republican Susan Collins in Maine is considered the other most vulnerable.

Republicans have 53 seats in the Senate, Democrats 45, and two are independents caucusing with the minority party.

Tillis, with $5.6 million cash in hand for a reelection bid in 2026, has taken heat back home in western North Carolina for comments related to the embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency.

He has agreed in principle with Trump on reducing health care costs but not on the means to the end. Tillis was the last to agree for confirmation of Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon. And on a 12-10 GOP majority panel, it was Tillis on the Judiciary Committee who stalled Ed Martin’s confirmation route for a U.S. attorney seat in the District of Columbia.