Congressional stock trades usually make headlines when someone's portfolio is surging or when there's a whiff of questionable timing. But sometimes the story is about what didn't go right. Case in point: Senator Mitch McConnell just disclosed selling shares of a lidar company that went from promising tech darling to bankruptcy casualty in spectacular fashion.

The Trading Timeline

According to government trade disclosures, McConnell's spouse executed two sales of Luminar Technologies (LAZRQ) stock during 2025:

• June 26: Sold between $15,000 and $50,000
• December 24: Sold between $1,000 and $15,000

That second transaction came right after Luminar, a lidar company once valued at more than $10 billion, filed for bankruptcy protection. The stock now trades over the counter after getting booted from the Nasdaq, where it previously traded under the ticker LAZR.

McConnell reported owning $15,000 to $50,000 worth of Luminar stock in his 2024 annual disclosure, though the original purchase price remains unknown. MarketDash reached out to the senator's office for comment.

There's an interesting wrinkle here: McConnell's wife is Elaine Chao, who served as both Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Transportation in previous administrations. In April 2025, Chao joined Luminar's Automotive Council. The trades are disclosed under McConnell's name per STOCK Act requirements, even though his spouse executed them.

A Brutal Year for Luminar

The numbers tell a painful story. Luminar closed 2024 at $5.38 per share. The stock actually rallied to $10.40 in January 2025, but then dropped below $5 in April and kept falling.

By June 26, when the first sale occurred, Luminar was trading at a high of $2.95. That's a 45.2% drop from the 2024 closing price.

By December 24, the stock hit a high of just $0.169. That represents a staggering 96.9% decline from where it ended 2024.

The Math on the Loss

Here's where it gets rough. While we don't know McConnell's original purchase price, we can calculate the opportunity cost of holding through 2025 versus selling at year-end 2024.

If McConnell held $15,000 worth of Luminar shares from 2024 until that December 24 sale, those shares would have been worth approximately $471.17. That means he missed out on $14,528.83 compared to selling before the calendar flipped to 2025.

Whether the overall investment showed a profit or loss depends entirely on that unknown original purchase price. But one thing's certain: 2025 was not kind to Luminar shareholders.

For context, McConnell regularly discloses other holdings including shares in Wells Fargo, where he reportedly uses dividends to purchase additional shares each quarter.