Under the Dome: Where do the Senate candidates get their personal money?

To subscribe to this weekly newsletter, go to newsobserver.com/newsletters.

Happy Friday! (Seriously! Happy FRIDAY!) It’s Danielle and the editors let me take control of the newsletter today.

I’m using this space today to talk about one of the more obscure reports federal office holders and candidates have to fill out.

Please don’t click away because that sounds boring. I’m about to tell you interesting things!

The public records give me a headache just looking at them, but they give good insight into how politicians are making and managing their money.

Did you know candidates running for U.S. Senate must file financial disclosure reports that explain how they make their money and what assets they hold?

Both Rep. Ted Budd and former Chief Justice Cheri Beasley filed their reports Monday after requesting a 90-day extension.

Beasley, a 56-year-old Democrat from Wake County, reported earning more than a half-million in income from her job at McGuire Woods, her pension from working in North Carolina’s judicial system and money she withdrew from her retirement fund.

Budd said he didn’t have any reportable earned income.

But don’t feel too sorry for Budd. He is a congressman, after all. And the 50-year-old Republican from the Triad owns a shooting range and gun store in Rural Hall, which brought in $878,303 in income, he reports in a separate category.

Budd also reports on the form working as a manager at T Paul Properties in Advance and as an officer at Budd Family Management Inc. in Winston-Salem.

Much of Budd’s assets are made up of blind trusts, mutual funds and rental properties listed as belonging to his wife or daughter. Shared assets or stocks belonging solely to Budd mostly brought in less than $201.

Much of the report uses ranges of money, instead of exact amounts leaving room for both privacy and questions.

He reports having a business loan debt between $100,001 and $250,000, a line of credit between $50,001 and $100,000 and a revolving charge between $15,001 and $50,000.

Beasley’s report gives a much more solid look at her assets.

She earned $308,333 at McGuire Woods, where she worked as a partner until August 2021. She explains on the form that her job entailed being on the firm’s appeals and issues team and helping with leadership development, diversity, equity and inclusion training.

She took on a case at McGuire Woods for Massage Envy that earned her more than $5,000, she reported.

Prior to working at McGuire Woods, she served as the chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court, and she reported collecting $217,741 from her pension. She also withdrew a required $43,193 from her retirement account.

Beasley owns a rental property in Nashville that earned her between $15,001 and $50,000.

Beasley also holds many mutual funds. Among those in her portfolio earning her between $201 and $1,000 are:

• First Trust Preferred Securities and Income ETF

• Lord Abbett Bond Debenture Fund Inc Class I

• Lord Abbett Inv Tr. Short Duration Income Fd Cl

• Lord Abbett Growth Leaders Fund

• US Financials Ishares ETF

• First Trust Capital Strength ETF

• Nuveen Municipal Value Fund, Inc. Common Stock

• Goldman Sachs GQG Partners International Opportunities Fund

• Goldman Sachs Dynamic Municipal Income Fund

• Goldman Sachs High Yield Municipal Fund

She received that range in dividends from Pioneer Natural Resources Company Common Stock, Johnson & Johnson Common Stock and Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund Class, and earned that same range in capital gains on American Funds SMALLCAP World Fund. Additionally, she earned between $1,001 and $2,500 from Lord Abbett Value Opportunities Fund.

More from the team

A judge ruled Wednesday that North Carolina’s 20-week abortion ban can be enforced. Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi reports on Judge William Osteen’s order to lift an injunction that prevented enforcement after deciding that it went against the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.

Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan reports on a complaint about whether a state Senate candidate lives in her district after a political consultant monitored where her car is parked.

I tell you why a joke about banana republics is less than funny and why the Department of Justice has reason to be concerned about statements by lawmakers.

Madison Cawthorn turned in his campaign finance report a month late. Then he redid it, filing a new, changed version Wednesday. I have that story for you.

Thanks for reading! See you next week. In the meantime, tune into our stories, our tweets and our Under the Dome podcast for more developments.

— By Danielle Battaglia, reporter for The News & Observer. Email me at dbattaglia@mcclatchydc.com.