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Tricia Cotham was once a Democrat and a teacher. Now she’s handed NC Republicans a supermajority. [1]
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Date: 2023-04-08
North Carolina took one step closer to the precipice of DeSantisism this week, when Democratic state house representative Tricia Cotham announced she would leave the Democratic Party and join the Republicans. Cotham, a former public school teacher from a solid Democratic district, effectively disempowered all NC Democrats — her switch handed Republicans a supermajority and the ability to override Democratic Governor Roy Cooper’s veto. Since Dobbs, NC abortions have increased 37%, as people in prohibition states are forced to travel to obtain care. A few years ago, Tricia Cotham proposed codifying abortion rights into state law, speaking on the house floor about her own abortion.
This is my letter to her.
Dear Ms. Cotham,
As a passionate Democrat and lifelong Charlottean, I’m grateful not to be among your defrauded constituents.
Less than six months ago you promised voters you would fight for a $15 minimum wage, fairness for LGBTQ people, and abortion rights. Barely three months after being sworn in as a Democrat, you broke your promises and joined a party that holds the opposite positions. Your voters can expect you to discriminate against the LGBTQ community, oppose a living wage, prioritize polluters and gun makers over children, and force pregnant people to give birth, regardless of circumstance.
Your stated reason for betraying the voters of NC District 112 is that you felt “bullied” by your Democratic colleagues after you skipped a vote to override Gov. Cooper’s veto on eliminating permitting for pistol buyers. Your bruised feelings led you to publicly align with the party of Mark Robinson, Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump - the party of election denial, book banning, and overt cruelty to marginalized people.
Despite a substantial budget surplus, the Republican budget proposes a teacher pay increase of 0.7%. Governor Cooper’s budget asks for 18 times that amount. Republicans also seek to siphon money away from public schools into failing charter schools. You were once a public school teacher. Are your former colleagues on board with your party’s lack of support?
You once spoke on the House floor about your own difficult decision to have an abortion. Now you’re conspiring to strip that right from North Carolina’s women and girls, not to mention refugees from prohibition states who depend on us for abortion care. Women and girls will suffer. Women and girls might die. All because you “felt bullied.”
I plan to visit your district regularly next year to campaign for your opponent. Democrats are resolved to defeat you even if, as has been rumored, the price Tim Moore paid for your soul is a new, redder district. No matter where you run, it’s possible even Republicans won’t support a turncoat who blatantly violates the trust of the people who voted for her.
With little hope that you will do the honorable thing, I join my fellow Democrats in urging you to resign.
[END]
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/8/2162915/-Tricia-Cotham-was-once-a-Democrat-and-a-teacher-Now-she-s-handed-NC-Republicans-a-supermajority
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