From the article, my emphasis added:

"Bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community remained stagnant for the initial months of North Carolina's legislative cycle. However, the landscape shifted when Democratic Representative Tricia Cotham, elected from a district which voted for her,** a Democrat, by +19points, switched to the Republican party**. This gave the GOP the crucial 72 votes required to override a governor's veto. Subsequently, these bills were promptly slated for hearings and aggressively advanced by the state's Republican leadership."