Source: Editorial Board
For those familiar with Tricia Cotham, Frank Sossamon’s story might sound similar. Sossamon, a reliable Democratic primary voter for over two decades, abruptly changed his party registration to Republican after 2020. He then ran for a seat in the State House as a Republican, won, and has been a reliable vote for the party’s far-right policy priorities ever since.
Sossaman represents North Carolina’s House District 32, which consists of Vance and parts of Granville Counties. In his first term as a state representative, Sossamon voted for a strict new abortion ban, removing background checks for domestic abusers looking to purchase a gun, denying access to gender-affirming care, and siphoning public tax dollars to unaccountable private schools.
In addition, he is an enthusiastic supporter of Lieutenant Governor and Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson, and they even campaigned together in Vance County. Robinson, of course, has raised many eyebrows with his radical policies on abortion and education and his demeaning comments towards women, Black people, and others.
Sossamon, who is now running for re-election to the North Carolina General Assembly, has tried to claim that he is not “extreme on either end.” And yet his record paints a very different story. In addition to the previously mentioned bills, Sossamon has voted to compel local police cooperation with ICE;, to ban the teaching of critical race theory in public schools; to compel teachers to out LGBTQ students against their will; to ban trans girls from playing school sports;to repeal the pistol permit law that would have barred the UNC shooter from purchasing a gun; to allow guns into churches; to enact gerrymandered political districts; and to increase barriers to voting.
Sossaman faces Democrat Bryan Cohn this November. Cohn is a father and small business owner who has served on the Oxford Board of Commissioners since 2021.
