NC-HD105: These factors will decide Tricia Cotham's (R) fate in 2024 -- and NC's balance of power

The Charlotte area’s most closely watched state legislative race could have widespread ramifications across North Carolina as Rep. Tricia Cotham faces voters for the first time since flipping parties.

Cotham gave the GOP a veto-proof supermajority in the North Carolina General Assembly when she switched parties from Democrat to Republican in 2023. She now faces Democrat Nicole Sidman in a redrawn House District 105, which covers parts of southeast Mecklenburg County.

Cotham’s decision — which made national news because it helped Republicans pass a bill restricting abortion access and a sweeping expansion to the state’s school voucher program — put a spotlight on the race. Both parties are pouring resources into the election to influence the balance of power in Raleigh.

Republicans currently hold 72 of 120 seats in the North Carolina House, a supermajority by just one vote, and 30 of 50 seats in the North Carolina Senate, which is a supermajority.

“Most state legislative races are really below the radar … But this one is more like a congressional campaign really, given the attention that Cotham’s party switch caused to begin with and then the resources that have flowed from that controversy,” said Eric Heberlig, a political science professor at UNC Charlotte.




https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article293996504.html#storylink=cpy