Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper says he would support a ban on individual stock trading by members of Congress and the president if voters elect him to the U.S. Senate next year.
Cooper announced his position in a video posted to X, arguing that elected officials and executive branch leaders should not be allowed to profit from nonpublic information.
“Why should a member of Congress or executive branch official be able to use inside knowledge to make money trading individual company stocks on the stock market?” Cooper said. “They shouldn’t. It’s wrong. It leads to corruption. And it has to stop.”
Cooper said he never owned or traded individual stocks during his time as governor.
He is the Democratic front-runner in North Carolina’s Senate race. His leading Republican rival, Michael Whatley, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
