Andrew Egger wrote:

*****After the news broke, Tillis started behaving like a man from whom a great weight has been lifted. “I look forward to having the pure freedom to call the balls and strikes as I see fit and representing the great people of North Carolina to the best of my ability,” the senator said in his retirement announcement.

[...]

He may even have opportunities to work with other GOP outcasts like Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins to blunt the worst of the president’s legislative agenda in the months ahead.*****

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Having abandoned any future in Republican politics, Tillis can do better than simply "call the balls and strikes" and "work with GOP outcasts like Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins." Much more important would be for him to disaffiliate from the Republican Party and caucus with the Democrats.

The current partisan breakdown in the Senate is 53-47. He alone would not change the majority (and neither would the even less likely circumstance of Murkowski and Collins joining him do so). However, such an act would:

1. Be enormously important symbolically;

2. Potentially lead to others (such as Murkowski and Collins) joining him;

3. Potentially inspire Sens. Todd Young (IN) and John Curtis (UT) to be at least marginally more independent in their positions and votes;

It is, of course, a cultural and political scandal that Tillis did not perceive it to be his responsibility to "represent[] the great people of North Carolina to the best of [his] ability" until after he surrendered his political ambition. Still, one appreciates the candor. Let him to the fullest take this opportunity to reclaim his integrity.