Rep. Tricia Cotham speaks about funding for private school vouchers prior to a vote to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a budget bill in the House at the General Assembly in Raleigh on Tuesday ...

Rep. Tricia Cotham filed a bill with a couple significant differences than a similar transit bill in the NC Senate. In this November 2024 file photo, Cotham speaks at the General Assembly in Raleigh.

North Carolina Rep. Tricia Cotham, who defected from the Democratic Party Tuesday to join the Republican Party, said Wednesday that she felt stifled by the party she was aligned with for years.

Rep. Tricia Cotham speaks about funding for private school vouchers prior to a vote to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a budget bill in the House at the General Assembly in Raleigh on Tuesday ...

Tricia Cotham Cotham, who was originally elected as a Democrat, made national headlines last April when she switched to the Republican Party in the middle of a legislative session.

Rep. Tricia Cotham speaks about funding for private school vouchers prior to a vote to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a budget bill in the House at the General Assembly in Raleigh on Tuesday ...

Rep. Tricia Cotham speaks about funding for private school vouchers prior to a vote to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a budget bill in the House at the General Assembly in Raleigh on Tuesday ...

Rep. Tricia Cotham, R-Mecklenburg, filed a bill that would let Mecklenburg County put a sales tax referendum on the ballot this fall.

Tricia Cotham won’t be welcomed back into Charlotte’s Democratic circles. That door is closed. But legacy is a different thing. And with the filing of the PAVE Act, she may have just cemented ...