North Carolina state Rep. Tricia Cotham, who this week switched her political party from Democrat to Republican, told Newsmax on Thursday that she made her decision because she's a "free thinker" who believes that her former party "has gone in a very, very sad direction."
"I have always been a legislator who was a public servant, and I believe in common sense governing [and] working across the aisle," Cotham, who appeared on Newsmax's "Wake Up America" with North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore, commented. "It's about helping our children get the best education and about building our economy for everyone."
But the Democratic Party is paying the consequences "all over the state and all over this country" as it continues to lean further left, said Cotham.
She added that she made the switch because she was "not going to be controlled."
"I'm not going to be a puppet of the governor or of anyone," said Cotham. "I'm a free thinker. That is not welcomed in the Democratic Party. It is not welcomed or encouraged, and that's unfortunate. You know, I'm here to serve people, not to just push a button that the governor says to push."
Cotham also noted that many of her views are aligned with the Republican Party, and "they have welcomed me and encouraged me" while Democrats have been "viciously attacking me and my children, and that's below the belt and wrong."
Moore, meanwhile, said that there are likely other Democrats who are considering leaving the party because of "how far woke, how far to the left" the party has become.
"We've seen it at the national level for years, but it is finally made its way down to North Carolina," said Moore. "There are a lot of Democratic members that I've served with for years who I would say were centrist, but who find themselves casting votes pushing a far-left agenda. You would think they were legislators from San Francisco or something."
He added that "you need two healthy parties" for an exchange of ideas, but they, unfortunately, kind of lost their way.
Cotham's party switch has created an outright, veto-proof supermajority, he added.
Cotham on Thursday also addressed how her party switch is being received by Democrats, noting that even though she's being called named by members of her former party, she's still the same person as she was.
"A lot of the things that I talked about in the campaign have been accomplished," she said. "This Medicaid expansion is a huge issue. We have done that.
"We are working to better our schools and our charter schools and looking at school choice. These are issues I've already talked about so again when you have such extremism coming in with completely different things about you, and they've canceled me, that's been their goal all along, and they have canceled me, and that's OK."
Cotham was a teacher, Moore added, making it helpful to have her perspective on educational choice.
"She's been a strong advocate for charter schools and making sure that when it comes to education it's about the children," he said. "She's able to speak to that very strongly."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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