What stocks are NC’s members of Congress buying and selling? See their trades

Like the vast majority of their fellow members of Congress, all but one of North Carolina’s federal lawmakers have investments in the stock market.

About half of the delegation owns individual stocks, not just a piece of an investment fund. And a few have been active this year in buying and selling shares in between their work on Capitol Hill.

Critics say letting lawmakers be shareholders raises the possibility that they are getting rich trading stocks based on nonpublic information they gained through their roles in the government.

Those questions surfaced during the Great Recession of 2008 and have continued despite a law to combat insider trading and ensure the public had quicker and more widely available access to information about lawmakers’ investments. Allegations of violations of that law and other impropriety have led to calls for stricter laws or stronger consequences.

Despite that, no member of Congress has ever been prosecuted under that 2012 law, known as the STOCK Act.

“I wouldn’t infer from the lack of prosecutions that nothing bad’s happened,” Jim Copland, director of legal policy at the Manhattan Institute, a public policy think tank, said at a hearing Wednesday on a measure that would ban lawmakers from owning stocks.

In 2025, only 6% of Congress refrained from investing in the stock market and only 2% held their stocks in qualified blind trusts, meaning they had little, if any, control over their trades, according to a report published Monday by Campaign Legal Center, a watchdog organization.

CLC reported that nine lawmakers from North Carolina own individual stocks:

• Chuck Edwards
• Virginia Foxx
• Pat Harrigan
• Mark Harris
• Brad Knott
• Tim Moore
• Deborah Ross
• David Rouzer
• Thom Tillis 

The News & Observer used generative artificial intelligence tools to extract data on trades these lawmakers disclosed since the beginning of 2025, according to financial statements as of late October. N&O journalists checked the data for accuracy and added context.

We found three lawmakers disclosed stock trades in 2025: Foxx, Knott and Moore.

Rep. Virginia Foxx

Party: Republican

Terms: 11

Committees:

• Rules
• Oversight and Reform

Estimated net worth: $5.34 million. Trade volume: $25.27 million. (Both numbers calculated by Quiver Quantitative, a website that tracks the trades of members of Congress, as of Nov. 19. Trade volume is over the lawmaker’s entire tenure in Congress.)

Purchased stocks:

• Alliance Resource Partners
• Ellington Financial Inc. Common Stock
• Ellington Financial Inc. Preferred Stock
• Energy Transfer
• Hercules Capital, Inc. Common Stock

Sold stocks:

• Alliance Resource Partners (partial sale)
• Bristol
• Energy Transfer LP (partial sale)
• FLEX LNG Ltd.
• Hercules Capital Inc. (partial sale)
• Pembina Pipeline Corp.

Rep. Brad Knott

Party: Republican

Terms: 1

Committees:

• Judiciary, Transportation & Infrastructure
• Homeland Security

Estimated net worth: $5.35 million. Trade volume: $49,000. (Both numbers calculated by Quiver Quantitative, as of Nov. 19).

Purchased stocks:

• CompoSecure, Inc.

Sold stocks:

• Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Rep. Tim Moore

Party: Republican

Terms: 1

Committees:

• Financial Services
• Budget

Estimated net worth: $6.91 million. Trade volume: $12.58 million. (Both numbers calculated by Quiver Quantitative as of Nov. 19).

Purchased stocks:

• American Airlines Group Inc.
• Baker Hughes Co.
• BlackRock Inc.
• Centene Corporation Common Stock
• Coinbase Global Inc
• Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF
• Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X ETF
• DoorDash Inc.
• Ford Motor Co.
• Global X NASDAQ 100 Covered ETF
• Harley
• Hyster
• Intel Corp.
• Krispy Kreme Inc.
• NASDAQ 100 Covered ETF
• Proshares Ultrapro QQQ ETF
• SIMCORP A/S
• Super Micro Computer Inc.
• United Health Group Inc.
• US Foods Holding Corp.
• Verizon Communications Inc.
• Yieldmax MSCI Option Income Strategy ETF
• Yieldmax SMCI Option Income Strategy ETF

Sold stocks

• American Airlines Group Inc.
• Apple Inc.
• Centene Corp. Common Stock
• Colgate
• Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X ETF
• Ford Motor Co. Common Stock
• General Dynamics Corp. Common Stock
• Global X Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF
• Harley
• Hyster
• Intel Corp.
• Procter & Gamble Co.
• Proshares Ultrapro
• Rockwell Automation Inc.
• SIMCORP A/S
• Super Micro Computer Inc
• UnitedHealth Group
• Verizon Communications Inc. Yieldmax MSCI Option Income Strategy ETF
• Yieldmax Smci Option Income Strategy ETF

McClatchy’s Aïcha Camara contributed to this story.

Danielle Battaglia

McClatchy DC

Danielle Battaglia is the congressional impact reporter for The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer, leading coverage of the impact of North Carolina’s congressional delegation and the White House. Her career has spanned three North Carolina newsrooms where she has covered crime, courts and local, state and national politics. She has won two McClatchy President’s awards and numerous national and state awards for her work.