Democrat Ken McCool is pitching voters in the Ballantyne-area House District 105 on inflation and public school funding, not on incumbent Tricia Cotham's 2023 party switch.

The shift marks a deliberate change from the 2024 playbook. Two years ago, Democrats ran what WFAE reporter Steve Harrison described as a "grudge-match campaign" against Cotham after she left the Democratic Party in spring 2023 to become a Republican. That move gave the GOP a supermajority in the North Carolina General Assembly.

Cotham survived. She beat Democrat Nicole Sidman by 213 votes, one-third of a percentage point, in a district that covers Mint Hill, Matthews and parts of south Charlotte.

The district's voter registration splits 33% Republican, 24% Democrat and 43% unaffiliated, Axios Charlotte reported. No Republican state House member won by a smaller margin than Cotham's 213-vote edge in 2024, and The Assembly called her the most vulnerable Republican incumbent on the ballot.

McCool, 28, a former Matthews town commissioner first elected at 21, told WFAE the race is about costs, not the party switch.

"But I think now the election is about costs," McCool said. "It's about public schools. It's about fixing the wrongs of 15 years of General Assembly rule."

He served three terms on the Matthews Town Council, including one as mayor pro tem, according to WCNC Charlotte. McCool also runs a sports cards and collectibles store, The Assembly reported.

McCool campaigned Wednesday, Oct. 14, alongside Gov. Josh Stein and other Democrats at a grocery store in east Charlotte, WFAE reported. Cotham was not mentioned at the event.

Cotham, the only Republican among Mecklenburg County's 13 state House members, declined to be interviewed by WFAE. She is running on tax cuts, public safety and education investment, according to WCNC. In her current term she championed Iryna's Law, which restricts the release of defendants with lengthy criminal records. She also sponsored the bill allowing Mecklenburg County to raise its sales tax by one cent for a multi-billion-dollar transportation plan, WFAE reported.

That transit legislation drew praise from the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance. But it angered some Matthews residents because it did not provide enough funding for the Silver Line light rail to reach the town, according to WFAE.

Republican lawmakers redrew Cotham's district to include the most conservative precincts of south Charlotte, WFAE reported. Still, low presidential approval ratings leave her little room for error.

Early voting in Mecklenburg County opened Thursday, Oct. 15, and runs through Saturday, Oct. 31, according to WCNC. The county has 25 early voting sites. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.