A former Democrat in North Carolina who switched parties and gave Republicans a super-majority in the state’s legislature is already making waves.
State Rep. Tricia Cotham was widely derided by the left as a shameless turncoat back in April after she left her long-time political home. But the explanation of why she changed teams was a lot more complicated than their flailing would have you believe. Namely, Democrat operatives engaged in a targeted campaign of harassment against her for daring to not fall in line with liberal Gov. Roy Cooper.
Democrats will "villainize anyone who has free thought, free judgement, has solutions," says North Carolina State Rep Tricia Cotham after switching parties.
"If you don't do exactly what the Democrats want you to do, they will try to bully you. They will try to cast you aside." pic.twitter.com/Jhnn1TxXjK
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 5, 2023
What’s that old saying about a woman scorned? Am I even allowed to cite it without being called a sexist? I don’t know, the new rules are confusing, but you get the idea. Cotham clearly took the attacks against her and her family personally, and she was completely right to do so. The far-left is insanely combative and domineering, and those who reside within its confines will stop at nothing to see their political wants met.
But the far-left is also insanely self-destructive. Going after Cotham over a few floor votes was short-sighted and ended up pushing her to not just leave her party and become an independent (i.e. Kyrsten Sinema), but to actually become a Republican.
Still, some doubted Cotham’s motivations for the move, suggesting she only switched to avoid being gerrymandered out of her seat (North Carolina’s Supreme Court has opened the door to redraw the state’s maps). The suggestion was that she’d still be a reliable vote for the left within the North Carolina legislature.
That was an understandable concern given her history within the Democratic Party, but she just put those fears to rest. Cotham voted in favor of the state’s 12-week abortion ban, sending her former party members (such as the account below) into fits of apoplectic rage.
Now-Republican state Rep. Tricia Cotham went from sharing her own abortion story in speaking out against NC's 72-hour waiting period bill in 2015 — as a Democrat — to switching parties and now voting for a bill that imposes a 12-week limit and doubles-down on the waiting period https://t.co/BGGqngibwt
— Grace Panetta (@grace_panetta) May 4, 2023
Here’s a thought. Maybe don’t turn on your own allies and try to destroy them over small disagreements. Then perhaps they won’t switch parties and knife your big priorities. The left continues to think it can simply bully its way through any situation, and that simply doesn’t work outside of the federal level where left-wing hegemony is so cemented within the Democratic Party.
With that said, I’d like to think that there’s something else behind Cotham’s decision to vote for this abortion ban: a genuine change of heart.
This would have been an issue that she could have easily gone against her new Republican colleagues on and probably suffered no real consequences. What were they going to do? Redistrict a fellow Republican out of her seat? Yet, she voted for the bill (which isn’t perfect but is a big step in the pro-life direction) anyway. Perhaps she’s just not the person she used to be. A shocking thought, I know.
Besides, I’ve been assured by the far-left that a person can change something as biologically fundamental as their gender. Changing one’s political beliefs is a piece of cake compared to that.
