CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mecklenburg County voters, church leaders and education advocates are discussing the possible legislative implications of Mecklenburg County Representative Tricia Cotham switching parties.
Cotham, who won the seat as a Democrat for Dist. 112 in 2022, made the announcement official last Wednesday, which is a big setback for her former party.
Impact on education policy
Since her party change last Wednesday, Cotham has not voted on any major education bills in the North Carolina House.
Cotham has a long history in education. She’s a former CMS Teacher of the Year and high school assistant principal.
Cotham raised eyebrows from her former party when she was one of the few Democrats appointed to co-chair a house committee this session. House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican, appointed her co-chair of the House K-12 Education Committee.
With her switch, Cotham now has a stronger voice in how education policy will be shaped in North Carolina.
Cotham has been tight-lipped on any policy changes her new status would bring, her website of legislative positions was taken down as of April 10.
Lisa Saab, the parent of a transgender child, is worried about what a new Republican supermajority, thanks to Cotham’s switch, might mean for transgender students.
“I just kept thinking we were safe in North Carolina, with Governor Cooper,” Saab said. “And unfortunately, with that other member trying to switch to being a Republican, it's apparently become something that can go through and it's really scary."
NC Republicans have introduced six bills in both the House and Senate targeting transgender youth this session. The bills filed in the General Assembly range from limits on high school sports to medical treatments for transgender youth under 18.
One education advocate said Cotham’s switch will be felt deeply in education policies.
“Republicans have consistently defunded education since they took power,” Amy Hawn Nelson, a North Carolina Educator said. “And so, we know what a Republican majority supermajority does to public education in North Carolina, there's no question about it. It won't be good.”
North Carolina Republicans and Democrats are far apart on key issues in schools like teacher pay, school choice, and LGBTQ rights, among other issues.
One example, in the Republican-led House’s latest budget proposal teachers, would receive an average 10.2% raise over the next two school years. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper proposed an 18% teacher raise.
“One of my kids, she has 24 kids in her class with no assistance,” Hawn Nelson said. “My kid's school doesn't have a counselor for half of the school. It matters. These things matter. You know, when we underfund education, we are directly affecting the future the bedrock of our democracy.”
WCNC Charlotte looked back at past education votes by Cotham.
She’s voted with Democrats on having statewide calendar flexibility and opposing an N.C. bill restricting how teachers talk about race and gender in schools. Cotham also voted with Democrats to oppose a bill making some local school board races partisan.
But Cotham, along with three other Democrats, left party ranks and voted for a bill expanding remote charter academies.
Cotham was also the only Democrat to sign on as a co-sponsor to House Bill 219 a charter school omnibus bill. Several school boards in the Charlotte area including Cabarrus, Stanly County Schools, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools have publicly opposed the bill.
CMS School board member Jennifer De La Jara told WCNC Charlotte in a statement Cotham has already solidified her conservative voting record.
“Rep. Cotham was voting quite conservatively already as a Democrat,” De La Jara said. “She voted for anti-immigrant bill HB10 and for HB17 in committee, which will make State Board of Education positions elected and no longer appointed by the Governor.”
House Bill 17 would require the state board of education members to be elected as opposed to being appointed by the Governor. Members are currently appointed for eight-year, overlapping terms, and are subject to confirmation by the General Assembly. The bill would also make Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt the chair of the board.
“Republicans have a greater chance of winning statewide elections outside of the governorship, and the State Board of Education has a lot of power,” De La Jara said. “Remember the battle two years ago over the social studies standards they excluded the terms “systemic racism” and “gender identity”. With a more conservative future State Board of Education, I fear North Carolina will become the next Florida.”
Cotham was the only Democrat to vote yes on the proposed constitutional amendment change.
Cotham is a part of the 18-member delegation CMS school works on to achieve its legislative agenda items. Despite a Republican-controlled legislature, and a majority Democrat school board CMS has been successful in getting key legislative items passed over the years.
CMS’ legislative lobbyist Charles Jeter said when it comes to the school board’s legislative agenda and Cotham nothing’s changed.
“At the end of the day, we always try to deal with the 18 members of our delegation as individuals,” Jeter said. “She's strong-minded, does her homework, and I have every reason to believe that she will be just as considerate of the CMS legislative agenda as she’s always been.”
Jeter said he’s given the same message to CMS board members he’s spoken to.
“Cotham has given no indication that her ideological positions on these core issues, whether it be in education, or other items has changed,” Jeter said. “And until such time, as she either says that, and we see evidence of that, I want to treat her the same way.”
Cotham has not publicly said how she will vote on any upcoming bills including those focused on education.
Church leaders respond
A group of church leaders is calling for reforms of North Carolina's electoral process after Mecklenburg County representative Tricia Cotham changed parties last week.
The decision now gives Republicans a veto-proof supermajority in the General Assembly, allowing them to override vetoes by Cooper and more easily pass conservative legislation.
The group is calling her democratic candidacy deceptive. Those church leaders held an event Monday morning at Little Rock A.M.E. Zion Church in Uptown.
The group said it's important the "voice of the people" is heard, saying the seat belongs to the people, not the politician.
"We want to address the bait and switch," an interim minister at the event Monday said. "The voters have been terribly disenfranchised. The seat does not belong to the person, it belongs to the people."
Reaction from Democratic leaders
House Democratic Leader Robert Reives criticized the news in a statement on Tuesday, saying she was elected in a majority-Democrat district.
"Rep. Tricia Cotham campaigned as a Democrat and supporter of abortion rights, health care, public education, gun safety, and civil rights. The voters of House District 112 elected her to serve as that person and overwhelmingly supported Democratic candidates up and down the ballot," Reives' statement read. "Now, just a few months later, Rep. Cotham is changing parties. That is not the person that was presented to the voters of House District 112. 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."
Reives further called on Cotham to resign, something state party chair Anderson Clayton also demanded.
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