A rare moment of consensus in North Carolina’s heated U.S. Senate race emerged toward the end of February: Both Democrat Roy Cooper and Republican Michael Whatley said members of Congress should not be allowed to own or trade individual stocks.
But within the state’s current congressional delegation, members are divided — both on policy and by personal habits.
Most members of the North Carolina delegation did not own individual stocks as of Dec. 31, 2024, according to a NOTUS analysis of lawmakers’ annual financial disclosures. Two others, Republican Reps. Pat Harrigan and Chuck Edwards, each reported owning just one individual stock. (Lawmakers have to disclose stock trades no later than 45 days after making them, and most have not reported trades this Congress.)
But the delegation also includes prolific stock traders, even as debate rages on Capitol Hill over whether lawmakers — who often have access to market-moving information before the general public — and their families should be banned from trading amid concerns over potential insider trading and conflicts of interest.
Rep. Tim Moore, a Republican who’s reported making more than 150 individual stock trades since he entered Congress in January 2025, invests in major companies such as Harley-Davidson, American Airlines and Krispy Kreme. He’s also invested up to $245,000 in an exotic financial fund that earns money when the Russell 2000 stock index falters — in essence, a bet against the success of the U.S. economy.
Moore has a median net worth of $6.8 million. In June, he failed to report several trades within the 45-day time frame required by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, Fortune reported. Using the House Ethics Committee’s online calculator for determining when a member of Congress must disclose a stock trade confirmed that Moore filed several trades past the 45-day federal deadline.
“These trades were disclosed within the 30-day grace period for technical delays recognized by the House Ethics Committee,” a spokesperson for Moore told NOTUS in a statement — a reference to the committee’s practice of not assessing a fine to anyone who files trades within 30 days after missing a deadline. “They were submitted in good faith and in accordance with the STOCK Act — no late fee was assessed, nor was one required.”
Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican, has reported making nearly 30 stock trades since Jan. 1, 2025, making her one of the most active traders in the delegation. Foxx owns several stocks in tobacco, energy, pharmaceutical and shipping companies.
Her median net worth has decreased from $5.8 million in 2008, the first year lawmakers had to publicly post disclosures, to $5.4 million in 2024, the most recent year covered by annual financial disclosures.
Republican Rep. David Rouzer sold a Boeing stock in late 2025 at a $1,440 loss — according to the disclosure — through an investment service called Interactive Brokers. On its homepage, Interactive Brokers prominently advertises so-called “prediction markets,” essentially betting contracts on future events, including political affairs.
“His financial advisor transitioned to the Interactive Brokers platform in 2023, far in advance of the platform’s launch of predictive market offerings in August 2024,” said Anna McCormack, Rouzer’s chief of staff.
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McCormack added that Rouzer’s investments are managed independently by a financial adviser, who provides reports after transactions are made. Rouzer also keeps a public list of his holdings on his website “in an effort to provide transparency beyond what is required by the House of Representatives.”
It’s not just the Republicans owning and trading stocks.
Democratic Rep. Deborah Ross owns several individual stocks.
When first elected in 2020, Ross reported owning stocks in Microsoft, Gilead Sciences and JPMorgan Chase. In following years, she accumulated stocks including Alphabet, cybersecurity company CrowdStrike and steel manufacturer Cleveland-Cliffs.
But she hasn’t reported making a stock transaction since April 2024, when she sold from $1,001 to $15,000 worth of Microsoft stock. Ross’ overall median net worth has also increased during her time in Congress, from nearly $3 million in 2020 to almost $4.1 million in 2024, according to NOTUS’ analysis of her annual financial disclosures.
A spokesperson for Ross said that the congresswoman supports a ban on congressional stock trading.
The other top stock owners in the North Carolina delegation — all Republicans — invest in an array of industries, but none appear to directly conflict with their congressional committee assignments.
Rep. Mark Harris, a Republican who sits on House Judiciary, Education and Workforce, and Agriculture committees, owns stock in Apple, Bank of America and Exxon Mobil through a mutual fund managed on his behalf. A spokesperson for Harris, who has not disclosed trading any of his stocks since coming to Congress in 2025, said that he is “supportive of efforts to ban stock trading” but did not specify which legislation he supports.
Rep. Brad Knott, a Republican who serves on the Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Transportation and Infrastructure committees, owns stock in energy corporation Baytex Energy as well as stocks in a credit card manufacturer.
Every year, members of Congress are required in annual financial reports to disclose the values of each of their assets and liabilities in broad ranges, like $15,001 to 50,000. The ranges get bigger the larger the assets or liabilities get. The biggest value range they can report is open-ended — $50 million or more. There are also assets a lawmaker doesn’t have to report, such as their primary residence.
NOTUS calculated the median net worth of each lawmaker by first finding each member’s minimum net worth — the sum of the minimum value of all assets minus the sum of the maximum value of all their liabilities — and their maximum net worth — maximum asset value minus minimum liabilities. NOTUS then calculated the median between the minimum and maximum net worths.
As Congress debates whether lawmakers should be allowed to own stocks, the financial disclosures of the North Carolina lawmakers with the highest median net worths show just how big a role the stock market plays in these politicians’ wealth.
Lawmakers filed their most recent financial disclosures in 2025, and they detail the lawmakers’ finances in 2024.
Unlike annual financial reports, lawmakers must report most individual trades within 30 to 45 days of the trade being made, depending on the trade, per the STOCK Act.
A majority of the delegation has not reported making any individual stock trades during the current congressional session, including Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd and Reps. Harrigan, Edwards, Greg Murphy, Addison McDowell and Richard Hudson, as well as Democratic Reps. Alma Adams, Don Davis and Valerie Foushee.
“My signing of discharge petitions to force a vote on a congressional stock trading ban represents a commitment to transparency to my constituents, who have made it clear that this legislation is a priority of theirs in Congress,” said Foushee in a statement. “This is a simple matter of transparency and preventing conflicts of interest, and it is disappointing that no Republican from the North Carolina Congressional delegation has joined a stock trading ban discharge petition like the majority of my democratic colleagues.”
Hudson, Murphy, Harrigan and McDowell co-sponsored legislation backed by House Republican leadership that would ban members of Congress from buying individual stocks. The bill, the Stop Insider Trading Act, would not require lawmakers to sell their individual stocks and would require advance notice for sales.
Ethics watchdogs including Campaign Legal Center have criticized the legislation, which they say does not go far enough to prevent lawmakers from profiting — or appearing to profit — on their position. They support another bill, the Restore Trust in Congress Act, which would require lawmakers and their families to totally shed their individual stock holdings.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican who signed on as a co-sponsor on the House leadership-backed bill, filed a discharge petition in September to force a vote on the total stock ban. The only North Carolina member to sign onto Luna’s discharge petition is Foushee, a co-sponsor of the bill who does not own individual stocks.
Harrigan, a co-sponsor on both bills, did not sign onto Luna’s discharge petition to bring the Restore Trust in Congress Act. Lexi Kranich, a spokesperson for Harrigan, said he did not sign the discharge petition because he “believes reforms like this should move through regular order, with committee review and member input, to ensure the strongest bill can pass and become law.”
Although he supports a stock-trade ban, Whatley and his family own at least $2.2 million worth of individual stocks, including major companies such as Chevron, Comcast, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer and Intel.
Cooper, who does not own individual stocks, challenged Whatley to immediately sell his and commit to not trading even if Congress is unable to get a stock-ban bill over the finish line.
Whatley hit back by reminding the former governor that the General Assembly found in 2019 that Cooper improperly controlled a fund related to a major pipeline project.
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