On Wednesday, a Democrat in the North Carolina state House defected to the Republican Party, giving the GOP veto-proof control of both chambers of the legislature and delivering Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper a blow in his final two years in office in trying to reject hardline conservative proposals.
Rep. Tricia Cotham of Mecklenburg County made the party flip, which means Republicans now have the 72 seats needed in the 120-seat House to have a veto-proof majority.
Republicans previously possessed 30 of the 50 Senate seats required to override vetoes provided party members are present and voting, but they were one seat short of a similar edge in the House following the November elections until Wednesday.
Republicans’ recently improved margins in the General Assembly, topped off by Cotham’s defection, have emboldened the North Carolina party to try again on issues like gun rights, immigration, and voting.
Following last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision reversing Roe v. Wade, Republicans are also interested in further regulating the killing of unborn kids.
Cotham, a former teacher and assistant principal who served in the House for over ten years before returning in January, made her choice at a news conference at the North Carolina Republican Party headquarters.
“I will not be controlled by anyone,” Cotham said as she announced she would switch her party registration to the GOP.
She claims that the Democratic Party is no longer a big tent party and that its members are bullied. She claimed to be a “spy” and a “traitor,” and that the tipping point came when she was chastised for using the American flag and praying-hands emoji on social media and in her automobiles.
House Speaker Tim Moore, who previously worked with Cotham, selected her to co-chair the House K-12 education committee this year, making her one of the few Democrats to occupy key committee positions. And she had already voted with Republicans on a few critical topics, while practically all other Democrats did not.
Cotham, 44, has deep Democratic roots. Pat, her mother, is a Mecklenburg County commissioner and a member of the Democratic National Committee. Her ex-husband is a former Democratic Party chair in North Carolina.
Republicans have been pushing legislation this year that Cooper successfully vetoed in prior years because Democrats had enough seats in the General Assembly to override vetoes if they worked together.
For the first time since 2018, the legislature overrode a Cooper veto by passing a bill repealing the state’s firearm permit buying system over his objections. Cooper has also allowed three more pieces of legislation on themes he vetoed in 2021 to become law without his signature this year.
Cotham was one of three House Democrats who did not vote on the gun bill override last week. Because of the absences, Republicans were able to satisfy the necessary three-fifths threshold on their own.
Cotham later stated that, while she opposed the permission repeal, she had told both parties that she would be absent. She stated that she was undergoing scheduled hospital treatment for a previous episode of COVID-19. However, Cotham and the other absent Democrats were held accountable for what occurred, prompting a liberal-leaning group, Carolina Forward, to warn to “hold them accountable” in 2024.
Cotham should have resigned from her House seat, according to House Minority Leader Robert Reives, because she campaigned as a Democrat in a predominantly Democratic area.
Reives stated before her announcement that Cotham ran as a “supporter of abortion rights, health care, public education, gun safety, and civil rights.” “Now, only a few months later, Rep. Cotham has switched parties.” That is not the person who was presented to the district’s voters.”
The statement came as the House prepared to vote on its version of the state government’s two-year budget, which directs $60 billion in spending through mid-2025.