RALEIGH, N.C. (CN) — A North Carolina Democrat announced she is switching parties, giving Republicans a veto-proof majority in the General Assembly and dealing a blow to the Democratic governor as he fights to block conservative legislation on issues including abortion and voting.
State Representative Tricia Cotham recited her political bonafides Wednesday morning at GOP headquarters in Raleigh – single mother, teacher, small business owner and “woman of strong faith.”
“Today, I add Republican to that list,” she announced to applause from her new colleagues.
The representative’s party swap gives the state GOP a supermajority that can override vetoes from Democratic Governor Roy Cooper as he finishes his last two years in office. Cooper made preventing supermajorities his top campaign priority last fall.
Cotham, 44, said the Democratic Party had become unrecognizable from when she was first appointed in 2007 to fill a vacated House seat. She accused colleagues of villainizing those with “free thought” and bullying her to tow the party line.
“I will not be controlled by anyone,” she said.
Republican House Speaker Tim Moore confirmed at the end of the press conference the party would push forward with plans to redraw voting districts, according to ABC 11’s Eyewitness News. The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in December that GOP-drawn congressional maps were unconstitutional because of partisan gerrymandering. A newly formed and Republican-majority court agreed last month to rehear arguments in the case.
Republicans are also expected to push for a bill to ban abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. State law currently bans abortions after 20 weeks.
Democratic leaders said at a press conference Wednesday that Cotham had betrayed her constituents in the heavily Democratic district that includes parts of Charlotte. Anderson Clayton, the chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, said the representative should resign if she did not intend to vote in favor of the values that she had espoused for many years — and continued to espouse Wednesday on her campaign website.
"Your words aren't worth a hill of beans if you don't stick to it," Clayton said.
House Democratic leader Robert Reives called on Cotham to resign in a statement Wednesday.
"Rep. Tricia Cotham campaigned as a Democrat and supporter of abortion rights, health care, public education, gun safety, and civil rights," Reives wrote. "The voters of House District 112 elected her to serve as that person and overwhelmingly supported Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. … That is not the person those constituents campaigned for in a hard primary, and who they championed in a general election in a 60% Democratic district. Those constituents deserved to know what values were most important to their elected representative."
Cotham’s family has deep roots in the Democratic Party. Her mother, Pat, serves on the Mecklenburg County commission and has been a Democratic National Committee member. Her father, John, chaired the county’s Democratic Party.
Speculations about Cotham’s loyalties arose last week after the Legislature successfully overrode one of Cooper’s vetoes and approved a bill that in part eliminated the state’s pistol permit purchase system.
Cotham and two other House Democrats absent for the override votes were criticized by liberal-leaning groups. Cotham said later that day that while she didn’t support the permit repeal, she had informed both parties she would be absent for a scheduled hospital treatment, the AP reported.
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