The North Carolina Republican Senate candidate who listed two different colleges as his alma mater said the mixup wasn’t done consciously.
“It’s not a matter of conscious omission,” North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis said according to the Raleigh News & Observer.
As TPM first reported, on multiple occasions biography pages for Tillis has listed both the University of Maryland College Park and University of Maryland University College as his alma mater. In interviews Tillis has also vaguely said he graduated from the University of Maryland (without specifying which campus).
Tillis campaign officials told TPM aides to Tillis accidentally listed the wrong school on a biography page for Tillis his LinkedIn page.
The News & Observer noted that Tillis repeatedly referred to his alma mater as the University of Maryland in the phone interview on Friday. Tillis said that “when someone asked a general question…I may say that” particularly to be brief.
“I’ve never listed my education degree as why people should vote for me,” Tillis told the North Carolina newspaper. “I think the average person is thinking more about what I’ve accomplished in my professional career and what I’ve accomplished in my career as a legislator.”
