The Tar Heel Turncoat

  It's not uncommon for politicians to switch parties; conservative Democrats leaving a party they feel is too liberal; anti-Trump Republicans leaving a party that has no place for them.
  Then there's Tricia Cotham.  

  Cotham was elected in 2022 to the North Carolina House of Representatives from Charlotte as a mainstream Democrat, favoring abortion and LGBTQ rights, expanded help for public education and health care. She was endorsed by Emily's List, the progressive, pro choice political action committee.

   Suddenly, three months into her term, she decided to become a Republican. It was a big deal as her vote gave the GOP a super majority in the legislature with the ability to override any veto from Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, 
  Because of Cotham's vote, North Carolina, over the Governor's objections, has cut back on abortion rights: limiting the procedure to up to 12 weeks of a pregnancy, down from 20, and imposing new conditions.  Public school teachers now are prohibited from discussing LGBTQ issues with younger students; other crackdowns are in the Republican pipeline.  And Cotham has joined her new party colleagues to expand taxpayer-financed  vouchers for children who attend private and religious schools, even for those in wealthier families, which would reduce money for public schools.
    "She switched parties and did a 180 on her views and values," Nicole Sidman, her Democratic opponent in the November 5 election, says in an interview. Cotham declined to return two phone calls for this column.

   In her abrupt change, Cotham offered little  policy or ideological rationale for her change other than to complain Democrats weren't being nice to her, 

   There are elections to fill seats in  85 state legislatures in 44 states this fall, including fiercely contested battles for control in  Arizona, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and New Hampshire.

  But there is no single race as striking as Sidman vs. Cotham. Democrat Josh Stein will win the race for Governor of North Carolina; he may have to depend on a Sidman victory to prevent  Republicans from dominating the next two years.
   Sidman  gets lots of attention from Democrats. Gov. Cooper hosted a Raleigh fund raiser for her.  California Gov. Gavin Newsom and singer James Taylor, in Charlotte, separately launched Sidman canvasses of voters. 

  Sidman, a 52-year-old lawyer and synagogue official, is a first time candidate, but she's smart and a relentless campaigner. She says the campaign has attracted a multitude of volunteers, estimating they are closing in on 25,000 doors knocked and over 50,000 phone calls.  (There likely will be as many as 45,000 votes cast.)
   The Democratic candidate has raised $700,000, far more than Cotham, though the state Republican party is kicking in as much as $1 million for their  prized convert.
  Republicans created a new district for Cotham that has a GOP advantage in heavily Democratic Mecklenburg County.

   Her campaign, not surprisingly, bears no resemblance to the last one.  She has largely stayed under the political radar since her switch, giving few interviews.  Through mailings and ads, Cotham and allies are running  a harshly negative campaign, accusing her opponent of  supporting prostitution, legalizing heroin and meth and being soft on sexual predators,
   Sidman says this is all false, that she holds none of these positions.  Cotham apparently is  referring to the state Democratic party's call for  decriminalizing penalties for sex workers.  With regard to sexual predators, there was a provision added to an abortion restriction proposal that expanded penalties for sex offenders. Sidman opposed the overall measure.  

  This race is being driven, however, by Cotham's surprise change of parties.  Her mother, a longtime Democratic county commissioner, was ousted in a vote earlier this year, a casualty of her daughter's political switch.

   The Charlotte Observer endorsed Cotham two years ago, but this time wrote that she "deceived and betrayed voters," endorsing Sidman who it says has  "a strong grasp of issues her district cares about and she's determined to build back the trust voters lost when Cotham switched parties."