Democratic challenger Ken McCool held a large lead with almost all precincts reporting, putting him in position to flip a key state House seat over Republican incumbent Tricia Cotham.
District 105, which includes Mint Hill, Matthews and parts of south Charlotte, is one of the few that's competitive on a heavily gerrymandered map. It's potentially crucial as Democrats seek to break the hold Republicans have had on the state House since 2010.
In early voting results and with 16 of 18 precincts reporting Tuesday night, McCool led Cotham 57.5% to 42.5%.
Cotham is the only Republican out of the 13 state House members from Mecklenburg County. She infuriated Democrats in 2023, when she switched parties to join the Republicans after winning her seat in 2022 as a Democrat. Republican lawmakers redrew Cotham’s district specifically for her, including the most conservative precincts of south Charlotte, to boost her chances.
Democrats targeted her heavily in 2024, but Cotham still narrowly won reelection. She squeaked by with 213 votes, or one-third of a percentage point, in a district Kamala Harris narrowly won in the same election.
McCool, a 28-year-old former Matthews commissioner, focused his campaign on affordability, public schools and bringing balance to the General Assembly. He played down Cotham's switch.
"What I have told people is that the state should be run a little more like Matthews," McCool told WFAE in October. "Pass a budget on time and do good things. We could focus on her party switch, but that’s not going to help working-class families."
Cotham's name has long been familiar in Mecklenburg politics. Her mother, Pat Cotham, was a longtime Mecklenburg County commissioner, and her father, John Cotham, is the former head of the county Democratic Party.
She championed Iryna’s Law in her most recent term. The law makes it harder for magistrates and judges to release people with lengthy criminal records who have been arrested multiple times. The bill was named for Iryna Zarutska, who was murdered on Charlotte’s light-rail line in August 2025 by a man who had previously been arrested and lived with severe mental health issues.
Cotham also sponsored the bill that allowed Mecklenburg County to increase the sales tax by one penny to pay for a multibillion-dollar transportation plan. Business leaders, most local politicians in the county and transportation advocates were pleased. But many in Matthews were upset the transit plans ultimately cut the planned Silver Line light rail project and left it short of the town.
