North Carolina state Rep. Tricia Cotham ditches Democratic Party for GOP: ‘I will not be bullied’
Heather Hamilton
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North Carolina state Rep. Tricia Cotham said she became a Republican because the Left cannot stand her “being an independent thinker in this world of cancel culture that has taken over the Democratic Party.”
On Wednesday, Cotham announced she would be switching party affiliations. She said she made the switch after she voted her conscience that went against what state Democrats desired, drawing attack ads with calls for her to resign.
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“I will not be bullied,” Cotham told Fox and Friends First. “I am a free thinker. I stand firm on that because we do have freedom in this country, and I have the right to free thought unbeknownst to what they believe.”
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Cotham said she has also been told not to pray or wear camouflage clothing.
“I’m a very strong woman of faith. That is extremely important to me. I display that loudly and proudly, and I’ve prayed several times in our beautiful chamber and had many comments and then things sent around about, ‘Please do not do that,’ ‘Please do not pray to Jesus,’” the state representative said. “I was told that if I wore camo that I was not a good person and a real Democrat. The list really goes on and on.”
“This is when you have extremists take over the party with radical groups that also help to control the party,” Cotham added. “This is what happens.”
Cotham’s switching political parties handed the North Carolina GOP a supermajority in both state legislature chambers while essentially rendering Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto useless if all members show up to vote, granting the state GOP immense power to enact the legislation it wants.
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“You can expect to see us continue to move North Carolina in the direction it’s been — a low regulation, low tax state that is focused on education, economic development, and really moving away from this wokeness, from some of this silliness that is out there,” North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore said.
In one day’s time since gaining the supermajority, North Carolina Republicans have filed legislation they’ve long sought after, including bills to limit policies touted by transgender activists.