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Official portrait of John R. Carter

John R. Carter

R Republican · Representative, Texas 31st district
17
Low self-dealing
4/6 components have data
#127 of 193 scored

John R. Carter (R-TX-31), in the House since 2003, chairs the Appropriations Committee's Military Construction-VA subcommittee and sits on the Defense subcommittee. Trackers show essentially no individual-stock trading, so STOCK Act self-dealing risk is minimal. The clearest accountability signal is a heavy concentration of defense-industry PAC money (General Dynamics, BAE, CACI, Honeywell, Lockheed, Boeing) flowing to a member with direct jurisdiction over defense and military-construction spending — a correlation, not proof of a quid pro quo. His above-median missed-vote rate (5.3% lifetime) and routine constituent-directed earmarks round out the picture; no public reporting surfaced on campaign personal use, family lobbying, or net-worth anomalies.

Public record

In Congress since
2003
Committees
Appropriations
Missed votes, 119th Congress
1.9% (13 of 674; median member 1.9%)
Campaign money, 2025–26 cycle
$1.4M raised · 34% from PACs & committees · $171K cash on hand FEC ↗

The stock-trading ban

H.R. 7008 passage, Jul 22, 2026
Yes
Cosponsored a ban bill
None

H.R. 7008 bans new stock purchases by members, spouses and dependents; it doesn't force sales of existing holdings. The Senate vote was on the version paired with the SAVE Act, which is why no Democrat voted yes. Full breakdown →

Disclosed stock trades

No periodic transaction reports on file since 2024. That's the norm: most members don't trade individual stocks, or hold them in blind trusts and diversified funds.

Amounts are the ranges members must report, not exact values. The STOCK Act requires a report within 45 days of a trade; "late" counts days past that deadline, measured to the filing date.

How the score breaks down

Stock self-trading
25% weight
0
Trackers report approximately $0 in tracked publicly traded assets and no disclosed individual-stock transactions; his holdings are not active equity trading. Per rubric, 0 when no individual-stock trading.
Quiver Quantitative reports Carter has roughly $0 invested in trackable publicly traded assets, indicating no individual-stock trading.Data aggregatorquiverquant.com ↗Carter's net worth is estimated around $3.5M with no notable equity-trading footprint in disclosures.Data aggregatorquiverquant.com ↗
Net-worth enrichment in office
15% weight
0
Estimated net worth was ~$3.37M (2018) and ~$3.5M (2026), broadly flat and consistent with ordinary market/asset appreciation; no evidence of growth beyond salary and market returns. No public reporting flags anomalous enrichment.
Carter's estimated net worth was ~$3.37M in 2018 and ~$3.5M as of 2026, showing modest change over the period.Data aggregatorquiverquant.com ↗
Money → action alignmentcorrelation, not proof of any quid-pro-quo
20% weight
47
CORRELATION, NOT PROOF. Carter chairs the MilCon-VA Appropriations subcommittee and sits on Defense Appropriations while drawing concentrated defense-industry PAC money (General Dynamics, BAE, CACI, Honeywell at $5,000; Lockheed $3,500; Boeing $1,500); PACs supplied ~$387K of ~$1.1M receipts. Donors have direct business before his subcommittees — a sector/jurisdiction overlap, not evidence of a quid pro quo.
Top defense PAC donors (General Dynamics, BAE, CACI, Honeywell, Lockheed, Boeing) gave to Carter, who chairs MilCon-VA and sits on Defense Appropriations; PACs were ~$387K of ~$1.1M total receipts.Data aggregatorlegis1.com ↗OpenSecrets categorizes defense-sector PAC contributions to Carter's campaign committee.Reference databaseopensecrets.org ↗
Campaign-fund personal useno data
15% weight
—
No public reporting, FEC enforcement, or watchdog findings surfaced indicating personal use of campaign or leadership-PAC funds. Absence is not penalized.
FEC candidate profile shows Carter's committee filings with no surfaced personal-use enforcement actions.Official recordfec.gov ↗
Revolving door & familyno data
15% weight
—
No public reporting found tying family members to lobbying or office-linked contracts, nor a documented staff-to-lobbyist pipeline specific to Carter. Absence is not penalized.
LegiStorm staff directory for Carter shows no surfaced family-lobbying or notable revolving-door reporting.Reference databaselegistorm.com ↗
Skips the job to fundraise
10% weight
28
Carter missed 803 of 15,074 roll-call votes (5.3%) over 2003-2026, well above the ~2.1% median; a 2023 stretch of 100+ missed votes was attributed to a viral infection. No evidence of paid speeches; elevated absences but with a medical explanation for the largest gap.
Carter missed 803 of 15,074 roll-call votes (5.3%), versus a 2.1% median for current representatives.Reference databasegovtrack.us ↗A spokesperson said Carter missed 100+ votes in 2023 while under a doctor's care for a viral infection.News reportingkdhnews.com ↗

Sources behind this score: 4 data aggregator · 3 reference database · 1 official record · 1 news reporting. Score = weighted average of the components that have data; the 2 without sourced evidence are excluded, never counted against the member. Methodology →

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