North Dakota's Senators Are Both Millionaires

The Center for Responsive Politics (the folks who run OpenSecrets.org) have released their analysis of 2012 congressional finance disclosures, which may seem a little odd coming in 2014.

“It may seem surprising that 2012 data on the personal finances of lawmakers, the Supreme Court and the executive branch is considered new in January 2014,” writes the group on their website. “But processing these disclosures and getting the information they contain into a searchable database is not for the faint of heart.”

I’ve hit on these disclosures in the past, but I don’t think I’ve ever done a comprehensive post for all three members of the delegation. And since the CRP’s analysis is much in the news anyway, I thought I’d present the data on North Dakota’s members of Congress.

Senator John Hoeven comes in as the 8th richest member of Congress, based on estimated average wealth from his disclosure. Senator Heitkamp, whose 2012 campaign railed against Republican opponent Rick Berg for his personal wealth, comes in as a millionaire as well and in the upper half of the 100-member Senate in terms of personal wealth.

Here are the details. Keep in mind that these reports don’t contain specific values, but rather value ranges for the assets the politicians hold. So there’s a minimum net worth, and a maximum net worth, and the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Senator John Hoeven

Min. Net Worth: $10,209,077
Max Net Worth: $64,021,999
Average: $37.1 million

According to OpenSecrets.org, North Dakota’s senior Senator ranks 7th in the 100 member Senate for personal wealth. And being in the Senate has been very good for Senator Hoeven’s bottom line, it seems. His firs Senate financial disclosure in 2009 pinned his average net work at $20 million. In 2010 it was $21.6 million and in 2011 it was $22.1 million, but in 2012 the Senator saw a big jump in his average net worth to $37.1 million.

Not bad for someone with a $174,000 federal salary.

Senator Hoeven’s full 2012 disclosure is here. As you can see, he has extensive holdings, the largest of which are investments in Investor’s Real Estate Trust, a Minot-based development company, and First Western Bank & Trust, his family’s banking business.

Senator Heidi Heitkamp

Min. Net Worth: $1,971,074
Max Net Worth: $5,094,000
Average: $3.5 million

Despite her populist aspirations, and anti-wealth 2012 campaign, Senator Heitkamp is actually in the upper half of the US Senate in terms of wealth, in a Congress where a majority are now millionaires no less. OpenSecrets.org ranks her 39th out of 100 Senators.

Senator Heitkamp’s biggest holdings are in Apple, Vanguard Health and Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway (an interesting fact for a number of reasons).

You can read her full disclosure report here.

Rep. Kevin Cramer

Min. Net Work: $182,022
Max Net Work: $657,000
Average: $419.5k

Unlike North Dakota’s two Senators, Rep. Kevin Cramer ranks near the middle of the pack in the House in terms of wealth. In what is clearly a typo, Rep. Cramer’s disclosure form lists his former State of North Dakota salary as Public Service Commissioner at $93.65 million (in reality, he earned $93,650/year).

Cramer’s investments are mostly mutual funds.

You can read his full disclosure report here.