Twenty-Four Hours in North Carolina Politics
Becca Boynton | April 13, 2023
On April 5, N.C. Rep. Tricia Cotham announced her desertion from the Democratic Party. Rep. Cotham, who succeeded Mecklenburg County in November, has flipped to the Republican party, giving Republicans a supermajority over the state legislature.
In a press conference in Raleigh, Cotham spoke of her decision to flip from the party she was aligned with for years.
“The party wants to villainize anyone who has free thought,” Cotham said. “It became very clear to me that this was about control on day one at the legislature…When did Democrats become so afraid of independent thought?”
Republicans now have 72 seats in the state House, supplying Republicans enough seats to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes instantly. Both chambers are now veto-proof of any Republican bill in N.C.
“It’s hard to believe she would abandon these long-held principles… she should still vote the way she has always said she would vote when these issues arise, regardless of party affiliation,” Cooper said on her party switch.
The same afternoon that Cotham announced her defection, Republican legislators introduced five new bills that directly target transgender individuals. A comprehensive list of the bills and their proposed plans are as follows:
Senate Bill 560: Prohibits medical treatment for minors unless an individual has sought therapy for at least six months and has received consent from a guardian, physician and psychiatrist. As well, public funds for minors seeking hormone therapy will be taken.
Senate Bill 639: Legally mandates teachers to supply written caution to guardians if they suspect a child to be gender non-conforming. Authorizes guardians of minors to withhold authorization for any “treatment, activity, or mental health care services that are designed and intended to treat gender dysphoria or gender nonconformity.”
Senate Bill 641: Permits insurance companies and employers to deny payment for medical treatment that “violates its conscience,” as well prohibits an individual’s ability to sue when denied medical treatments.
Senate Bill 631 and Senate Bill 636: Both act to refuse transgender individuals from participating in sports in their preferred gender.
Democratic and leftist political leaders have spoken out on Cotham’s flip. Kaivan Shroff, a political commentator, went to Twitter to express his outrage with Cotham.
“Cotham is a traitor to democracy,” Shroff stated. “Not only did she betray her voters…now the entire state… will be held hostage by an extremist Republican legislature.”
Protests against Cotham have been held in Raleigh and Charlotte. N.C. Democratic Party Chair, Anderson Clay, demanded her resignation at a Democratic press conference Tuesday.
“This is not about political vendettas. This is about the constituents that trusted Cotham to champion their values,” Clay said. “They [Cothams district] did not choose to elect a Republican. They chose to elect a Democrat.”
Cotham’s party switch is not only startling for the Democrats who voted for her mere months ago, but it is detrimental to the thousands of transgender youth in N.C. N.C. Democrats are left with little to do in order to prevent the rising conservative agenda.