Half of North Carolina’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives owns stocks, and some are potentially making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on those trades, a review of public records shows.

Members of Congress aren’t required to report their exact financial positions, but they do have to report their ownership stakes and income in broad ranges. WRAL’s analysis of congressional ethics forms shows three of the state’s leading politicians made potential six-figure profits in 2025 alone off their stock trades.

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On Wednesday the U.S. House voted to restrict — but not fully ban — members of Congress from trading stocks. North Carolina Rep. Greg Murphy, a Republican from Greenville, strongly supported the bill. Murphy is a doctor, and his financial disclosures show he has millions invested in local medical businesses and mutual funds. But he owns no individual stocks.

“We are elected to serve our constituents with integrity and not for self-benefit," Murphy wrote. "Members and their families should not use the office for financial gain. We must root out perceptions of corruption to preserve faith in our federal government, and even the appearance of impropriety stands in the way of that pursuit.”

However, critics of the bill called it political theater due to an unrelated and politically contentious measure on voter ID that GOP leadership stuck in at the last minute, making the bill unlikely to pass the Senate's 60-vote filibuster threshold and become law. It passed the House with all Republicans in support and most Democrats opposed. Only one of North Carolina’s four Democrats, Rep. Don Davis, voted for it.

“Congress is not serious,” said U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who accused his own party of intentionally sabotaging the bill. “... If we really wanted to ban stock trading for members of Congress, we would offer standalone legislation and could get a large bipartisan majority.”

Regardless, the vote raised questions of which of North Carolina’s lawmakers own stocks, who among them has been actively trading those stocks while in office, and how much money they’re making.

NC politicians’ stock holdings

Neither of North Carolina’s U.S. senators, Republicans Ted Budd and Thom Tillis, own any stocks. Both are invested in other ways, such as through mutual funds, according to their ethics disclosures.

But in the House delegation, seven of the 14 members own individual stocks. And most of those have been actively trading stocks while in office — although some have refrained from buying or selling any shares, according to their most recent annual disclosures.

  • No stocks: Democrats Don Davis, Valerie Foushee and Alma Adams. Republicans Greg Murphy, Addison McDowell, Richard Hudson and Chuck Edwards
    • Own stocks but don’t trade: Democrat Deborah Ross. Republicans David Rouzer and Pat Harrigan.
      • Own and actively trade stocks: Republicans Virginia Foxx, Mark Harris, Brad Knott and Tim Moore.

        While the overall split is 7-7 in terms of who owns stocks or not, the members who own stocks include six Republicans and one Democrat. And the members who actively trade stocks are all Republicans.

        Among the four who trade, Moore and Harris are far and away the most active.

        Foxx and Knott report making only a handful of trades, while Moore and Harris were trading almost daily at times, according to their financial disclosures. Knott’s most recent disclosure is from 2024, while the other three have filed their 2025 disclosures.

        They don’t have to report exactly how much they made. They also don’t report how much they lost on stocks they sold at a loss. But based on the ranges they report, it’s possible they made as much as:

        • Moore: $342,000
          • Harris: $159,200
            • Foxx: $107,000
              • Knott: $53,500

                All four voted in favor of the bill that would restrict their ability to buy and sell stocks in the future.

                None responded to WRAL’s requests for comment on why the supported the bill — or whether they would follow the rules in the bill in the future restricting their ability to trade stocks, even if it doesn’t become law.

                Ethics of stock-trading

                It’s a growing political issue. When Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Roy Cooper launched his campaign, his first policy announcement was support for banning stock-trading by members of Congress. His opponent, Republican Michael Whatley, owns hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stocks.

                Whatley initially didn’t respond to WRAL’s requests as to whether he'd also support a ban on congressional stock trading, but later he began publicly supporting the idea after Republican President Donald Trump indicated he would also support it during this year’s State of the Union address. Whatley was asked by reporters in Gastonia again Thursday, reaffirmed his support for banning stock-trading in Congress, and said he would put his stocks in a blind trust if elected.

                Anticipating that the new bill will go nowhere in the Senate due to the politicized additions, the anti-corruption nonprofit group Project On Government Oversight has already called on Congress to try again — and to vote on even stricter rules fully banning stock trades by elected officials.

                “The public deserves a real, enforceable stock trading ban — not political theater,” the group wrote Wednesday on social media.

                A Florida Republican, Rep. Ana Paulina Luna, proposed that sort of ban on congressional stock-trading in 2025. But WRAL reported at the time that none of North Carolina’s Republicans signed onto a petition that could’ve forced a vote on the measure. And only one Democrat did, Rep. Valerie Foushee of Orange County.

                A professor who studies Congress and political corruption, Eric Heberlig of UNC-Charlotte, said it makes sense that people would be skeptical of politicians making the right choice if a decision on a vote required them to choose between their own self-interest or the common good.

                A ban on stock trading, however, could remove that concern from the equation.

                “We want public officials to be devoted to figuring out what the public benefits are of their policies,” he said in an interview. “What's going to be advantageous to their constituents back home — not making decisions based on what's best for their financial situation personally.”

                He added that even though most of the state’s politicians aren’t actively trading stocks, voters tend to believe they probably are using their insider knowledge and power to enrich themselves.

                “The public is generally distrustful of this; they think all politicians are up to no good,” Heberlig said. “They kind of suspect that anybody they elect is going to do this anyway.”

                WRAL state government reporter Caroline Yaffa contributed reporting.