NC Democrat Tricia Cotham changes parties, betraying her own words to voters | Opinion

In a shocking move, a North Carolina Democrat has switched parties, giving Republicans an outright supermajority in both chambers of the state legislature. State Rep. Tricia Cotham of Mecklenburg County has changed her party affiliation to Republican, she officially announced at a press conference Wednesday morning. Axios Raleigh first reported the news Tuesday.

While Cotham did not say exactly when she arrived at this decision, it would appear that Cotham may not have been honest with her constituents when they elected her last year. Cotham told WBTV in an interview that “this has been something I have considered for a very long time.”

“When I came back to this legislature, I knew times were different,” Cotham said at Wednesday’s press conference. “I knew I was different, too.”

Cotham won her November general election by nearly 20 points after emerging as the victor of a competitive Democratic primary in which there was no incumbent. House District 112, which encompasses Mint Hill and parts of east Charlotte, is a solidly blue district.

While Cotham did amass a reputation for bipartisanship during her previous terms in the General Assembly, there’s no question that the people who voted for her believed they were electing a Democrat — not a candidate who was considering becoming a Republican.

Indeed, Cotham’s campaign website — and the statements she made on the campaign trail — gave no indication she would change her party affiliation just months after being sworn in. She vowed to bring “progressive leadership” to Raleigh and was endorsed by many progressive organizations, including Emily’s List and Equality NC.

“Right now, LGBTQ+ youth are under attack by Republican state legislatures across the country,” Cotham’s campaign website still says. “I will stand strong against discriminatory legislation and work to pass more protections at the state level.”

Cotham also vowed to “stand up to Republican attacks on our health care” as well as “oppose attacks on our democracy, preserve fundamental voting rights, and ensure all voices are heard.”

Voters believed this is what she would deliver. They took her at her word. Now, she appears to be standing with Republicans instead of standing up to them.

The news immediately drew the ire of Democrats and North Carolinians incensed by Cotham’s reported decision and the massive implications it could have for statewide politics, particularly as the legislature weighs important issues such as education funding and abortion. Republicans, meanwhile, celebrated the fact that Cotham’s move now gives them an outright supermajority in both chambers of the legislature, vastly increasing their chances of overriding the governor’s vetoes.

“If candidate Tricia Cotham had been honest before the election, she would not have won her seat,” state Sen. Natasha Marcus, a fellow Mecklenburg Democrat, said on Twitter. Marcus called Cotham’s expected switch “dishonest and undemocratic.”

Laura Meier, who serves with Cotham’s mother on the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, tweeted, “Vote her OUT in 2024.”

House Democratic Leader Robert Reives called on Cotham to resign — a call echoed by North Carolina Democratic Party chairwoman Anderson Clayton.

If she is indeed changing parties, Cotham owes her constituents an explanation. How did this happen, and when? Did Cotham begin to consider this move before the election, or after? What, if any, discussions occurred behind closed doors, and what, if any, promises were made?

And, most importantly, why? If she stands for anything she has ever claimed to stand for, why would she side with a party that represents the exact opposite?

Voters deserve answers to those questions, and Cotham deserves an opportunity to give them. On Wednesday, she insisted that she is still the same person that her constituents elected and that her principles have not changed. But she’s also damaged the credibility she once had, given the apparent emptiness of the statements she made to voters just months ago.

This story was originally published April 4, 2023 at 4:14 PM.