Lobbyists play an essential role in every state capital, helping keep the wheels turning while elected leaders and top state agency executives make the final decisions. Unlike the politicians, the lobbyists largely operate under the radar. Here’s the inaugural N.C. Tribune and Business North Carolina listing of the state’s leading lobbyists, an effort to spread […]
A trio of Congressional Democrats say they’re going to investigate one of President Trump’s pardons that prominent North Carolina and Washington lobbyist Ches McDowell helped broker. The probe targets the October 2025 pardon of Canadian and Emirati crypto billionaire Changpeng Zhao, who two years before had pleaded guilty to violating federal laws that require finance […]
A trio of Congressional Democrats say they’re going to investigate one of President Trump’s pardons that prominent North Carolina and Washington lobbyist Ches McDowell helped broker. The probe targets the October 2025 pardon of Canadian and Emirati crypto billionaire Changpeng Zhao, who two years before had pleaded guilty to violating federal laws that require finance […]
Checkmate Government Relations, the Raleigh-based lobbying firm led by Ches McDowell, hired Rep. Richard Hudson’s chief of staff Luke Blanchat to lead its congressional lobbying business Checkmate has drawn lots of attention because of its fast growth and McDowell’s close ties to the Trump administration. The firm opened its Washington D.C. office after Donald Trump’s election in 2024. It […]
In December, the Lumbee Tribe’s for-profit arm paid a combined $6.8 million for two tracts of land alongside Interstate 95, where a Native American-owned casino may someday emerge. That was $3.6 million more than the combined properties’ sale price a few days earlier. Deeds recorded with Robeson County show that Western Agricultural Holdings, a firm […]
