Weekly Recap Pt. 1: Catch up on the news you missed from 4/2-4/8
North Carolina Rep. Tricia Cotham gave Republicans a supermajority by switching parties, the House approved its budget plan and Gov. Roy Cooper faces threats to his appointment powers.
It’s been such an unbelievably chaotic week in North Carolina politics that I have to break up this week’s recap into two emails. The next email will highlight important bill introductions and votes that took place this past week. For this email, I’m focusing on Rep. Tricia Cotham’s decision to switch parties and the aftermath of that choice.
So let’s begin with the news many people in North Carolina political circles are talking about:
Cotham leaves Democratic Party
On Tuesday afternoon, Axios reported that state Rep. Tricia Cotham, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, would switch parties on Wednesday. Minutes later, I confirmed the report and added that Cotham would first make a private announcement of her party change during a Republican caucus meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
Cotham’s party switch was important because it would give Republicans veto-proof control of the House. The GOP already had a supermajority in the Senate. With Cotham joining House Republicans, Democrats are likely to face an even greater uphill battle in thwarting GOP bills related to education, elections and abortion.
After Tuesday’s GOP caucus meeting, Cotham’s desk was cleared out and moved to the Republican side of the chamber. House Democratic Leader Robert Reives then put out a statement confirming the party switch and calling on the departing Democrat to resign.
On Wednesday morning, Cotham held a news conference to make her party switch decision public. During the event, she slammed Reives, accusing him of fostering an unwelcome environment and levying a primary threat after she didn’t show up for a vote to override a gun bill that Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper had vetoed. Cotham also cited social media attacks and confrontational in-person interactions with Charlotte-area voters as factors that played into her decision to leave the Democratic Party.
Reives maintains he allows for all voices in his caucus to be heard and that Cotham showed minimal interest in working within the party.
“I encourage free thought almost to a fault because I believe that helps us be more representative of the state,” Reives told me in a statement on Wednesday, adding that he makes “real efforts to give members a safe space in caucus to express those feelings and [is] not tolerant of attacks on members within caucus and by caucus members.”
Cotham said she began seriously considering leaving the party in January. Over time, she grew more upset and felt forced to support all of Cooper’s actions.
She said, “It became very clear to me in January that you better vote in line with everything Governor Cooper tells you to do. ... I will not be controlled by anyone.”
Cotham’s frustration reached a breaking point last week amid pushback to her absence on a gun bill override vote.
She said at the time that she had made it clear to both parties that she would miss the vote due to a medical appointment she had related to long-term effects of COVID-19 she has experienced. Reives told reporters last week that he didn’t know why Cotham and a couple other Democrats were absent.
In February, Cotham voted against a standalone House bill to repeal the state’s pistol permit law. That provision was later bundled into a more sweeping Senate bill, which she missed a floor vote for on March 15.
“People don’t care about the facts,” Cotham told me in a text message after the gun bill override vote. “They will say whatever they want, they will be cruel, they are now attacking my family and children.”
Cotham aftermath
After Cotham made her announcement on Wednesday, two major questions emerged: Will other Democrats follow suit in leaving the party; and how will Cotham vote on key issues in the coming months?
Let’s begin with the first question.
Cotham was joined by a number of Republicans at her press conference on Wednesday. Two of the House’s top leaders suggested other Democrats may also leave the party.
“She's not the only Democrat that we've had great conversations with," said Republican House Speaker Tim Moore.
After the press conference, I approached House Majority Leader John Bell for more clarity on what Moore meant. Bell told me that there were ongoing efforts to recruit Democrats even before last week’s vote on overriding Cooper’s veto of a gun package.
“I’m not going to name any names, but there’s been a number of House Democratic members that have reached out and said, ‘Hey, look, let’s have a conversation because we want to be independent, free-thinking individuals that represent their district,’” Bell said. “It was before the override vote even happened.”
So at a noon press conference outside the North Carolina Democratic Party headquarters in Raleigh, I asked NCDP Chair Anderson Clayton about the level of confidence she had that all 48 remaining House Democrats would stay in the party.
Clayton replied, “I fully believe that we are going to have our Democrats stay in line with what we are expecting right now. But I will say, I want people to out themselves to me now so we know what we’re up against in 2024.”
Which Dems might leave?
Since Wednesday was a voting session on the House’s budget proposal, I knew it would be the best time to try to get lawmakers on the record about their attitudes about leaving the party.
One name quickly emerged as the likeliest possible party switcher: Rep. Cecil Brockman of Guilford County.
Rep. Michael Wray of Northampton County was another potential crossover, but multiple colleagues saw Wray as likely to stay in the party and Brockman as the most uncertain figure in their caucus and likeliest to leave the party. Wray and Brockman were also absent on the gun bill veto override. Wray didn’t provide an explanation for his absence, while Brockman said at the time that he had to visit urgent care.
“One of the reasons Democrats are in this position is because they spend their time fighting other Democrats,” Brockman told me in an emailed statement last week. “Their time and resources would be best served fighting Republicans to give us a majority.”
Some Democrats who were seen as the biggest swing members on key bills told me on Wednesday that they would remain in the Democratic Party, including Reps. Shelly Willingham of Edgecombe County, Abe Jones of Wake County and Garland Pierce of Hoke and Scotland counties.
The only two swing Democrats who refused to answer my question: Brockman and Wray.
“No comment,” they replied when asked if they’d stay in the Democratic Party.
At the time I asked Wray initially, he was speaking with a lobbyist while on his way to the House floor. I had tried to catch him at an Agriculture House Committee meeting earlier in the day, but he didn’t show up to the hearing. I then went to Wray’s office, but he also wasn’t there. I informed a staff member of Wray’s that I was looking to ask a quick question. I was told that I might spot Wray on his way to the House floor.
En route to the chamber floor with a lobbyist standing by his side, Wray appeared caught off guard when I asked if he was planning to stay in the party or not. He turned around and said he was speaking with a woman. When I repeated my question, he grew angry, turned around, raised his voice and continued walking with the lobbyist. I then emailed Wray and his office seeking comment, which went unanswered.
After the four-hour floor session, I approached Wray one final time. I apologized if there was any misunderstanding between myself, him and his office. “That was very rude,” he told me.
I then sought his response to the same question. “No comment,” he answered, then walked away. I later learned he had privately told his colleagues and at least one reporter that he’d stay in the party.
Brockman was more responsive than Wray to my questions.
At first, Brockman said he wanted 15 minutes to think about what he’d say, but after an hour and a half, he hadn’t returned. On his way to and from the House floor about three hours after I initially asked my question, he again replied, “No comment,” even after being informed that nearly all swing members had committed to remain Democrats, thus leaving him as the lone lawmaker seen as seriously considering leaving the party.
The result from this reporting and other conversations: A story about how Brockman was considering leaving the Democratic Party. Quickly after the story’s publication, Brockman faced much pushback. He then told the Raleigh News & Observer on Wednesday night that he’d remain a Democrat, though he did offer harsh words for his own party. When I reached back out to Brockman to ask what had changed and prompted him to remain a Democrat, I got no response.
Cotham’s policy views
With all 48 House Democratic members now appearing likely to remain in the party, Cotham’s votes will perhaps carry the greatest weight.
In April 2015, Cotham gave an emotional speech in opposition to a bill calling for 72-hour waiting periods for women seeking abortions.
“Abortion is a deeply personal decision,” she told her colleagues. “It should not be a political debate. My womb and my uterus is not up for your political grab. Legislators, you do not hold shares in my body, so stop trying to manipulate my mind.”
On the first day of session, Cotham told me she could support further abortion restrictions beyond the state’s 20-week limit, but suggested bans at six weeks and 13 weeks would be too extreme.
“At some point, there’s a consensus somewhere,” she told me.
Republican leaders haven’t yet introduced a serious bill banning abortion at a certain threshold. At Wednesday’s news conference, Cotham declined to answer a question I had about whether she’d support a 13-week abortion ban.
“I’m never someone that this was the biggest issue facing women in North Carolina. ... I'm not going to say there's a week here or a week there. ... There's not a bill before us right now,” she said.
Other proposals could become law with Cotham’s support.
Only two House Democrats have voted in favor of bills similar to ones previously vetoed by Cooper more often than Cotham.
This year, Cotham has backed GOP-led efforts to require local sheriffs to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, allow for concealed handguns in churches located on school property, erode hotel tenant rights and reshape how deaf and blind schools are governed.
Democrats worry Cotham may also side with Republicans on LGBTQ rights issues and educational bills that could impact how teachers may discuss racism and sexuality in classrooms. Cotham didn’t attend a committee hearing on Tuesday on a bill seeking to limit the collection period for mail-in ballots.
As an Education Committee chair, Rules Committee member and representative still seen as a swing voter, Cotham could play a pivotal role in determining whether bills prohibiting transgender girls from competing on female youth sports teams and limiting how racism and sexuality is taught in K-12 public schools will become law.
"Rep. Cotham’s votes on women’s reproductive freedom, election laws, LGBTQ rights and strong public schools will determine the direction of the state we love,” Cooper said in a statement to a number of news outlets. "It’s hard to believe she would abandon these long held principles and she should still vote the way she has always said she would vote when these issues arise, regardless of party affiliation."
Stay tuned…
A second Anderson Alerts email should be hitting you inboxes later Sunday for the non-Cotham news that happened this week.
I’ll also be on WFAE, a Charlotte-based NPR-affiliate, at 9 a.m. Tuesday to talk about some of the major news events of the past week.
If you are a news outlet that would like to license Anderson Alerts content to your audiences, including any photos, please don’t hesitate to email me.
Newsletter subscribers who wish to receive all mid-week Anderson Alerts updates can upgrade to a paid subscription.