Meredith rep switches parties, saying he didn't feel at home in Democratic caucus

MEREDITH — Matt Coker was just a few months into his first term as a representative to the state’s House of Representatives when he started to get the feeling he might have trouble fitting in. Coker was elected last year as a Democrat, but announced earlier this month that he would begin caucusing with Republicans.

“After extensive reflection and deliberation I’ve made the decision to change my party affiliation from democrat to republican [sic] to better align my party with my core values,” Coker posted on X on Feb. 8. “As I reflect on the first half of my term it is abundantly clear to me my proper place in this body is on the center right of the aisle.”

In an interview on Monday, Coker said he had a feeling of unease with his affiliated party shortly after getting to work in the legislature.

“Once we really got down to digging into the bills, and I started to understand where the balance point of the Democratic caucus was in Concord, I said, 'This is going to be rough,'” Coker said. “It was too much of an ideological gap for me to be part of it.”

He said he spend several months wrestling with the decision, and didn’t come to a final conclusion until the night of Feb. 7, the day before he made his announcement.

“It had been a rough year within the caucus. It wasn’t what they were doing, it was me not fitting within the caucus. It’s very hard to be part of a team, when you see the team moving in a direction that you don’t agree with and have some fundamental disagreements with.”

Coker, a 37-year-old airline pilot, said he had never been strongly partisan. He said he had generally been a registered Democrat since joining the voting rolls, though he sometimes changed his affiliation to vote in the Republican primary.

Locally, he said he felt comfortable as a Democrat, as he found Belknap County Democrats to be “very practical people, I think they were more focused on local issues,” such as the struggle over management of the county-owned Gunstock Mountain Resort. “But when I got to Concord, I realized that the Concord caucus was much farther left and more focused on pushing a Washington agenda, which I feel is, for our state, not a great fit.”

Coker’s X posts paint a picture of someone in disagreement with the leadership of his party at the time. He frequently criticized President Joe Biden’s decision to leave his name off of the New Hampshire primary ballot. He also spoke at local events for U.S. Rep Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who campaigned against Biden in the Democratic Primary.

His misalignment with the Democratic caucus became more apparent with a bill he sponsored, HB 1391, which would preclude newly purchased vehicles from having to be inspected in the same year they were purchased. He said nearly every member of the Republican leadership voted in favor of his bill; all but one member of the Democratic leadership voted against it.

“It was this philosophy that government has to micromanage every aspect of people’s lives, that doesn’t fit well with me,” Coker said.

He described the Democratic caucus as “monolithic, everybody jumps on the same agenda, everybody sticks together.” Alternatively, he sees the Republican caucus as a group where divisions and dissent are accommodated.

“The more I watched that [Republican] caucus, the more I thought there was a place for me in this caucus,” he said.

Coker said he intends to run for re-election, and he’ll do so as a Republican.

“I don’t think either party has the moral high ground,” he said, but as he considers his areas of interest — “I want to reduce red tape, cutting rules that don’t make much sense, make government more efficient.” — he feels more comfortable as a Republican.

Coker noted it would have been possible for him to realign as an independent, not affiliated with either caucus, but said that would have made him a “misfit toy — you’d have no one to work with. I wouldn’t get anything done.”

Asked for comment, NH House Minority Leader Matthew Wilhelm referred to his statement issued on Feb. 8: "Rep. Coker has made clear that his values and priorities don’t align with the Democratic Party. Our caucus will continue to fight for working families and for the rights, freedoms, and dignity of all Granite Staters."

Jason Osborne, the House Majority Leader, said Coker's switch to his caucus, "shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who knows him. He's an independent-minded fellow, you can see his voting record doesn't exactly align with the Democratic caucus." Osborne said he "would be surprised if he is the last member that switches parties," and sees Coker as representing "a certain citizen that was maybe disillusioned by the rise of Donald Trump in the Republican Party and sent them seeking a home elsewhere, we may be starting to see those people coming back."

With 400 seats in the NH House, one representative switching caucuses won't make a significant difference, Osborne said, especially considering the representative in question.

"It's not like Rep. Coker is going to vote any different than he has been," Osborne said. "He has his own independent mind, he isn't going to be in lockstep with the Republican members any more than he has been in lockstep with Democratic members," though he said it does make for a "morale boost" among his caucus.

Since making his announcement, Coker said he’s had some negative reactions from what he described as “hardcore” members of both parties, but, for the most part, “People have said, I voted for a person and not a party. I feel like locally I’ve gotten more positive feedback than negative feedback.

“I feel like I made the right decision, sometimes when something nags at you for a while, it’s your psyche telling you something,” Coker said. “Regardless of how this works out, I don’t have any regrets.”

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include comments from Matthew Wilhelm.