Switch parties? New election.
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North Carolina bill would call for new election when lawmakers switch parties
Democrats in the North Carolina Senate who are facing a bill to alter the landscape of the 2024 elections took to the microphone on Tuesday to announce a measure that would address a more immediate issue.
Senate Bill 748 would require candidates who do a party switcheroo early in their terms to be removed from office and refund their donors.
Changes proposed to North Carolina elections in state Senate include input from a lawyer who worked to deny results in 2020
State Sen. Michael Garrett (D-Greensboro) led a press conference to introduce the public to SB 748, which is designed to remedy situations such as the one that emerged when Rep. Tricia Cotham of Mecklenburg County announced that she was leaving the Democratic party and joining Republicans.Cotham said in April that the “modern-day Democratic party has become unrecognizable to me and others across the state” and that she had switched parties to escape the pressure she said she faced to vote with the Democratic caucus, declaring, “I will not be controlled by anyone.”
But Cotham, who represents House District 112, had been re-elected in November with 59.1% of the vote against Republican Tony Long, a landslide by modern proportions. She had been elected unopposed to a third term in 2012 and then left the House to run for Congress in 2016, finishing third in the Democratic primary won by incumbent 12th District Rep. Alma Adams (D-Charlotte).
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I wonder about the constitutionality of this bill. The people elect an individual based on their feeling that s/he best represents their interests. That should be independent of the party.
-> should <-
We've seen many Congresscritters switch parties in DC over the years. Can you imagine the havoc this would cause if it were proposed on a federal level?
