N.C. Senate Nominee: Sen. Tillis Vote Today Gives Administration Right of Way to Plow Forward With Lawsuit to Dismantle Affordable Care Act

RALEIGH, North Carolina, Oct. 2 -- Former North Carolina State Sen. James Calvin "Cal" Cunningham, Democratic nominee for the Senate, and vice president and general counsel to WasteZero Inc., issued the following campaign news on Oct. 1:

This afternoon, Senator Tillis voted to pave the way for the administration to continue its effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act that currently provides insurance to 20 million Americans and protects 1.7 million North Carolinians with pre-existing conditions. While other vulnerable Republicans up for reelection voted to block the Justice Department from supporting the lawsuit to repeal the ACA, Tillis voted against it.

This vote follows Tillis' partisan effort to protect himself after repeated attempts to repeal protections for people with pre-existing conditions. But experts have said that Tillis' sham health care bill "contains huge loopholes that undermine that promise" and just provides insurers "another way of excluding coverage of preexisting conditions."

Today, Senator Tillis set the record straight once and for all: He's willing to destroy health care, even during a pandemic.

From Raleigh to Washington, North Carolinians have seen Tillis' consistent attacks on health care for years.

* Tillis Blocked Medicaid Expansion: As Speaker of the North Carolina House, Tillis led the charge to block Medicaid expansion, preventing Governor Cooper from extending coverage to hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians, especially as many have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic. He's even bragged about it.

* Tillis Voted 15 Times To Partially Or Fully Repeal The Affordable Care Act: Once he got to Washington, he has voted time and time again to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and it's protections for those with pre-existing conditions. Senator Tillis has said he supports anything that takes the ACA "off the table."

* Tillis Called It "Courageous" To Gut Protections For People With Pre-Existing Conditions: In an interview with Fox News, Senator Tillis described a vote to repeal the ACA as "courageous," despite the fact that it would have "significantly reduced protections for people with pre-existing conditions."

"Today Senator Tillis proved once again what we've known all along -- when it comes to standing up for North Carolinians' health care, he'll cave every time," said Kate Frauenfelder, a spokeswoman for Cal Cunningham's campaign. "Especially during this pandemic, North Carolinians cannot afford a Senator that is more interested in his own political ambitions than protecting the millions in our state living with pre-existing conditions."