Tricia Cotham, a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from the 112th district, has announced her defection to the Republican Party, saying “the modern-day Democratic Party has become unrecognizable to me and to so many others throughout the state and throughout this country”.
She made the announcement in a press conference on Wednesday.
Cotham, 44, said her former party wants to “villainize anyone who has free thought and free judgment, who has solutions and wants to get to work to better our state, not just sit in a meeting and have a workshop after a workshop”.
“If you don’t do exactly what the Democrats want you to do, they’ll try to bully you, cast you aside,” she added.
Cotham, who is a longtime Democrat lawmaker, first served in the House between 2007 and 2017, during which she openly defended abortion rights.
She returned to the House in November 2022 on the back of a campaign focused on raising the minimum wage, protecting voting rights, and bolstering LBGTQ rights.
With her defection, Republicans now control both chambers of the North Carolina legislature.
Her defection means Republicans now have a supermajority, meaning they can pass whatever legislation they want without having to worry about Democrat Governor Roy Cooper’s veto.
However, Cotham said that when voting on bills, “I am going to do what I think is best for my district, what is best for the state, and I am going to listen to my heart.”