Watchdog launches ad campaign against 'WOKE' Thom Tillis in NC

Watchdog group Consumers' Research is launching an ad campaign against Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a moderate Republican facing reelection in 2026, labeling him an advocate for "woke" corporations.

Specifically drawing the organization's ire is Tillis's attempt to attach a provision to the "Big, Beautiful Bill" that would impose a 41% tax on third-party litigation financing. In a recent op-ed for the Daily Caller, Consumers' Research Executive Director Will Hild called such financing a "critical tool in our fight against woke capitalism and one of the few tools the average American consumer has to fight back against corporate goliaths."

The practice specifically refers to a third-party offering funding to finance a lawsuit in exchange for a percentage of any damages the suit secures. Hild argued it represents one of the few means by which ordinary Americans may challenge large corporations.

The campaign itself features a mobile billboard at the U.S. Capitol depicting Tillis as a puppet, as well as a website dedicated to highlighting the impact of his legislation.

Long regarded as a moderate, Tillis has frequently run afoul of the MAGA movement, often due to his reservations about support key border provisions, but also for seemingly left-wing policies such as his Respective for Marriage Act, which codified same-sex marriage into U.S. law.

His latest effort has drawn the ire of several MAGA heavyweights, including Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who called his bill "a massive gift to Big Pharma, Big Tech, and woke corporations."

"This bill protects elites and punishes whistleblowers, inventors, and retirees. It’s a corporate shield dressed up as reform," she said, calling on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to keep it out of the "Big, Beautiful Bill."