Poli Alert Politics & Civics
Related Articles
A Republican congressional candidate in a competitive North Carolina race was suspended from Kalshi after betting on her own election, a move the prediction market said violated its rules against trading on events a user could influence.
Laurie Buckhout, a retired Army colonel and combat veteran, purchased less than $1,000 in contracts related to her own candidacy, according to Kalshi. The platform fined her nearly $2,600 and banned her from trading for three years.
The amount was relatively small. The ethical question is harder to dismiss: Buckhout was willing to put money on the outcome of the very election in which she was a candidate.
Buckhout acknowledged the betting Monday and expressed regret.
“I bet on myself. Literally,” she said in a statement, calling it a “dumb mistake” and saying she worked to make it right after learning it violated Kalshi’s rules.
A question of judgment
Buckhout is challenging Democratic Rep. Don Davis in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, one of the country’s closely watched House races.
The heavily Black district was redrawn by Republican lawmakers to include more conservative areas, making it a key GOP pickup opportunity. The Cook Political Report rates the race “Lean Republican.”
That makes Buckhout’s conduct more than a quirky prediction-market controversy. Candidates seeking public office are asking voters to trust them with decisions involving public money, government power and conflicts of interest. Betting on their own race creates an obvious question about whether they understand — and respect — the ethical boundaries that come with seeking office.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee seized on that issue Monday.
“Looks like Laurie Buckhout is getting a jump-start on her insider trading aspirations,” DCCC spokeswoman Madison Andrus said, arguing that someone who could not follow Kalshi’s basic rules could not be trusted to serve as an ethical representative.
Not the first political betting controversy
Buckhout’s suspension comes as Kalshi and other prediction markets face growing scrutiny over whether election contracts are legitimate financial products or essentially a form of online gambling.
The platforms allow users to trade contracts tied to elections, sporting events and other real-world outcomes. Several states have challenged their legality or sought to restrict them, while Kalshi has fought those efforts in court.
Political figures have increasingly found themselves caught in the platforms’ ethical gray areas. Kalshi suspended three political candidates in April for attempting to bet on their own races.
On Monday, the platform also permanently banned former Rep. George Santos, saying he engaged in insider trading and failed to cooperate with its investigation. A regulatory agency previously found that Santos bet against his own appearance at the 2026 State of the Union and earned about $17,000 when he did not attend.
Buckhout’s case is different: She bet on her own candidacy and cooperated with Kalshi’s investigation. But the underlying concern is similar — whether people with a direct stake in an event should be allowed to financially speculate on its outcome.
