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Frank Roche
Frank Roche was a 2016 Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 2nd Congressional District of North Carolina.[1] Roche initially filed to run, but did not appear on the official candidate list after the filing deadline was pushed back to March 25, 2016.[2]
Roche unsuccessfully ran for election to the same seat in 2014.[3] Roche was defeated by incumbent Renee Ellmers in the Republican primary on May 6, 2014.[4]
Roche was a 2012 Republican candidate for North Carolina Treasurer in the 2012 elections.
Biography
Roche studied at the University of Rhode Island where he earned both a B.A. and M.A. in economics before moving to New York City to pursue a career in the international banking industry. Roche is a financial market economist with expertise in "macroeconomics, international trade and capital flows, capital markets, treasury management, budgeting, geo-politics, and public policy." He stayed in the New York City and Boston areas for 15 years before moving to North Carolina in 2007. In his time in the Northeast, Roche's career focused on "currency markets, interest rates, stock prices, commodity price movements, and public policy coming from Washington, DC and the capitals of the world's largest economies." After moving to North Carolina, he became an independent trader, still focusing on "foreign currency trading, risk management, and advisory." Roche has also worked with the Fox Business Network as a commentator since 2007.[5]
Campaign themes
2014
Roche listed the following issues on his campaign website:[6]
- Immigration: "We cannot attempt to analyze the jobs outlook and the economic challenges that confront American citizens in 2014 and not include immigration and the social counterparts multiculturalism, identity politics, and political correctness in the analysis. Mass immigration is the single most important structural policy issue facing America today. In the second decade of the 21st Century, Americans find themselves 45 years into a massive social experiment that began with the passage of the Immigration Reform Act of 1965. America has benefited from immigration in our past, and we can again in the future, though not until we end U.S. immigration policy as it has been practiced since the late 1960′s. As your Congressman, Frank will work to block the type of comprehensive immigration reform and amnesty for illegal immigrants being debated in the House of Representatives in 2014. Frank will work to secure our borders as part of a broad strategic effort to bring the number of illegal immigrants entering the country each year to as close to zero as possible. Frank will work for lower levels of legal immigration which strategically aligns with the needs of U.S. industry and business. Frank will also work to end government recognition of, and compliance with, the social counterparts of U.S. immigration policy: multiculturalism, identity politics, and political correctness."
- Federal Debt & Deficits: "When will it be too much debt? Will it be in May of 2014 when the debt will reach $18 trillion? Or, perhaps it will be in 2050 when total outstanding US federal debt could reach $65 trillion. Frank believes Congress has already taken on too much debt. The speed with which Republican and Democrat elected officials have allowed the debt to rise over the past 12 years is unprecedented in U.S. history. The level and continuing pace of accumulation of debt is already a national security threat to the United States. The federal government has over promised Americans on medical care, retirement income, the provision of food and shelter, post secondary education, and providing for the general welfare. The scarce resources that are taxes and fees are being misallocated. If Americans don’t demand their elected officials voluntarily correct fiscal imbalances, financial market participants, both Americans and foreign nationals, will force a correction of the imbalances at a much higher cost to our collective standard of living. As your Congressman, Frank will work to bring the federal budget into balance and keep the focus on debt reduction."
- Trade Policy: "The long standing U.S. policy of unilateral free trade, the rise of China, the persistent onslaught of foreign competition in motor vehicles and parts, consumer goods, and machine tools, together with U.S. companies transferring production overseas and/or outsourcing from overseas, and tens of thousands of takeovers of U.S. corporations by foreign nationals since the mid 1980′s, have all wrecked havoc on the American labor market and put downward pressure on potential U.S. yearly growth rates. U.S. trade policy as practiced by successive administrations has served to significantly cloud the economic landscape in America. The long lauded benefits of cheap consumer goods is now being outweighed by the growing negative repercussions evident in 2014 America: millions of manufacturing jobs lost, slow job growth, flat wage gains, a historic low in the labor force participation rate, and historic numbers of urban, near urban, and rural Americans dependent on government support programs. As your Congressman, Frank will work to move America away from unilateral free trade and towards fair trade guided by the concepts of reciprocity and strategic trade theory. Frank will work to remove fast track authority for negotiating trade agreements from the Executive branch, and ensure members of Congress exercise their constitutional authority over all future trade treaties, being certain the best interests of American citizens come first."
- Obamacare, Dodd-Frank & Regulation: "As your Congressman Frank will work diligently to replace both the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, and the Dodd-Frank Wall St. Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Obamacare will prove to be a long-term drag on economic growth and employment, reduce new business formation, and reduce access to and the quality of medical care. Dodd-Frank will serve only to make financial transactions more expensive for businesses and consumers, be a drag on employment in the financial services sector, and make U.S. banks less competitive against their foreign rivals. Frank will work diligently to relieve American businesses and individuals from the freedom sapping burden of over regulation."
- Education: "For more than 30 years there has been recognition by policy makers, parents, and employers that America’s public education system is no longer graduating a sufficiently knowledgeable work force. The conventional wisdom in 2014 America is the American public education establishment is failing; the average American citizen is less well educated than decades before. U.S. business groups have been warning about their inability to adequately compete with America’s trading partners because of the increasingly low skilled applicants coming out of America’s public schools, particularly in math, science, information technology, and the trades. It is time to realize that the federal government’s current policy of regulating and micromanaging the public school system has failed. No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and Common Core are only the most recent efforts by the Dept. of Education to control education from Washington, D.C. The failings of America’s public school system doesn’t end at high school graduation, they continue with America’s post secondary academic institutions dominated by rising administrative costs and a worsening value proposition. With the Obama administration’s takeover of the student loan program, the moral hazard for post secondary institutions and students alike has increased. As your Congressman, Frank will fight to return the decision making power on public education back to the states and counties, and remove the moral hazard of a government controlled student loan program by returning the loan program to the private sector with necessary reforms."
- Federal Reserve: "In the 5 years since the housing and financial collapse of 2008-2009 the Federal Reserve (Fed) balance sheet has ballooned from less than $900 billion to over $4 trillion as the Fed has pursued unconventional monetary policy measures to help stabilize the financial system, maintain stable consumer prices, and maximize employment. The unconventional monetary policy measures, a.k.a. Quantitative Easing (QE), has involved keeping short-term interest rates near zero, and ten of billions of monthly purchases of U.S. Treasury bonds and Mortgage Backed Securities. The majority of the money used to purchase these assets was created by a computer key stroke at the New York Federal Reserve Bank; the printing press. The Fed is taking unusual risks in the conduct of monetary policy to satisfy their dual mandate as imposed by the U.S. Congress: maintain low and stable prices, and full employment. Full employment, or the Non-accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU), is thought to be achieved when the unemployment rate stabilizes around 5 percent. The U.S. Congress imposed the dual mandate on the Fed in the 1970′s and was largely seen as political cover for a difficult economic period in U.S. history. The Fed’s ongoing QE program will increasingly pose a systemic risk for the U.S. economy and must be brought to an end, and the size of the Fed’s balance sheet reduced. As your Congressman, Frank will work to remove the dual mandate imposed on the Federal Reserve and replace it with a single mandate to maintain low and stable prices. Frank will also join the effort to exercise congressional oversight authority to ensure the actions taken by the Fed since 2008 do not pose an unusual degree of systemic risk to the U.S. economy and America’s future strength and prosperity."
- Family Values: "Frank is a pro-life, traditional families candidate. As your Congressman Frank will work to protect life and advocate for traditional marriage between a man and a woman."
- Second Amendment: "Frank believes in the organizing principles of the U.S. Constitution and will work to constantly defend our founding document, including the right to bear arms."
- Term Limits: "Frank believes in voluntary term limits for the U.S. House and Senate; 6 terms in the House, 2 terms in the Senate. Frank will not serve more than 12 years in the U.S. House Representatives."
Elections
2016
Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Republican. Incumbent George Holding (R) from District 13 defeated incumbent Renee Ellmers and Greg Brannon in the District 2 Republican primary on June 7, 2016. This primary was rated by Ballotpedia as a 2016 U.S. House primary to watch. John McNeil defeated Elton Brewington, Jane Watson, Ron Sanyal, and Steven Hight in the Democratic primary and was defeated by Holding in the general election. The general election took place on November 8, 2016.[2]
Holding's decision to run in District 2 came after redistricting in North Carolina in February 2016 substantially changed the constituency of both districts.[7][8][9][10][11][2]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  George Holding Incumbent |
56.7% | 221,485 | |
| Democratic | John McNeil | 43.3% | 169,082 | |
| Total Votes | 390,567 | |||
| Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections | ||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
George Holding Incumbent |
53.4% | 17,084 | ||
| Renee Ellmers Incumbent | 23.6% | 7,552 | ||
| Greg Brannon | 23% | 7,359 | ||
| Total Votes | 31,995 | |||
| Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections |
||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
John McNeil |
46.1% | 7,613 | ||
| Jane Watson | 23.5% | 3,875 | ||
| Steven Hight | 11.3% | 1,870 | ||
| Ron Sanyal | 10.7% | 1,761 | ||
| Elton Brewington | 8.4% | 1,387 | ||
| Total Votes | 16,506 | |||
| Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections |
||||
2014
Roche ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. House to represent North Carolina's 2nd District. Roche was defeated by incumbent Renee Ellmers in the Republican primary on May 6, 2014.[4]
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Renee Ellmers Incumbent |
58.7% | 21,412 | ||
| Frank Roche | 41.3% | 15,045 | ||
| Total Votes | 36,457 | |||
| Source: Results via the North Carolina State Board of Elections |
||||
2012
Roche ran for North Carolina Treasurer in 2012.[12] He lost to Steve Royal in the May 8 Republican primary.[13] Incumbent Janet Cowell and Ron Elmer ran for the Democratic nomination. The general election took place on November 6, 2012.
| North Carolina Treasurer, Republican Primary, 2012 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
| Steve Royal |
57.7% | 389,188 | ||
| Frank Roche | 42.3% | 285,439 | ||
| Total Votes | 674,627 | |||
| Election results via The North Carolina Board of Elections. | ||||
Campaign finance summary
Ballotpedia currently provides campaign finance data for all federal- and state-level candidates from 2020 and later. We are continuously working to expand our data to include prior elections. That information will be published here as we acquire it. If you would like to help us provide this data, please consider donating to Ballotpedia.
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Frank + Roche + North Carolina + Congress"
See also
- North Carolina Treasurer
- United States House of Representatives
- North Carolina's 2nd Congressional District elections, 2014
- North Carolina's 2nd Congressional District
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ The News&Observer, "Roche running against Ellmers again," April 17, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 North Carolina State Board of Elections, "June Primary Candidates," accessed March 27, 2016
- ↑ Campaign website, "Home," accessed March 5, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Associated Press, "2014 primary results," accessed May 6, 2014
- ↑ Roche for Congress, "About Frank," accessed January 18, 2016
- ↑ Campaign website, "Issues," accessed March 5, 2014
- ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Candidate_Listing_20160315," December 21, 2015
- ↑ Twitter, "Colin Campbell," accessed February 22, 2016
- ↑ News Observer, "NC Sen. Andrew Brock to run for Congress under new map," February 22, 2016
- ↑ Statesville Record and Landmark, "As primary nears, candidates meet Thursday in Mooresville," February 23, 2016
- ↑ Rhino Times, "Greensboro State Rep. Blust announces run for Congress," March 2, 2016
- ↑ NewsObserver, "Conservative talk radio host joins state treasurer's race," February 29, 2012
- ↑ PilotOnline, "Currituck, Hyde, statewide results," May 8, 2012
