CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Cal Cunningham, one of the Democrats running to oust Thom Tillis blasted the Republican incumbent for already declaring he would vote no on impeaching President Trump.
"As a senator, my job would be to listen to the evidence and not rush to judgment," Cunningham told NBC Charlotte’s Rad Berky.
Just last week in Charlotte, Tillis said he could find nothing wrong with Trump asking the new president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son.
At the opening of his campaign headquarters in Charlotte, Tillis said, "People can have their own concerns about style but I saw nothing in the way of substance that would lead to a basis for impeachment."
"The question I think is first for North Carolinians is how can Thom Tillis rush to judgment? He’s already declared he is going to vote no in an important constitutional moment for our country," Cunnigham said.
Cunningham is a native of North Carolina, an Army veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, and a former one-term state senator.
Besides Cunningham, State Senator Erica Smith and Mecklenburg County Commissioner Trevor Fuller are also running for the Democratic nomination.
Tillis has been endorsed by Trump and running ads touting his close ties to the president.
Cunningham said Tillis’s loyalty to Trump is an open question as the vote to impeach draws closer.
"Is Thom Tillis, is he just vindicating a partisan interest or is he really prepared to do his constitutional duty in a co-equal branch of government?" said Cunningham.
The North Carolina primary is March 3.