If you thought beating the market was hard, you haven't been trading with congressional-level information access. A new report from Unusual Whales reveals that dozens of elected officials outperformed the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) in 2025, with some posting returns that would make professional fund managers weep with envy.
The S&P 500 gained a respectable 16.6% last year. That's a solid return by any measure, but it looks almost pedestrian compared to what certain members of Congress managed to achieve through their stock portfolios.
The Congressional Trading Leaderboard
According to the Unusual Whales analysis, Republicans averaged 17.3% gains for the year while Democrats notched 14.4% returns. But the real story lives at the top of the leaderboard, where all ten top performers more than doubled the S&P 500's performance.
Here's how the top 10 congressional stock traders performed in 2025:
- Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio): +78.8%
- Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.): +70.8%
- Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.): +67.9%
- Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.): +62.5%
- Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.): +61.7%
- Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.): +61.5%
- Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.): +54.8%
- Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.): +52.5%
- Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.): +50.0%
- Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Pa.): +41.9%
The list includes six Republicans and four Democrats, along with two senators and eight representatives. What's particularly interesting is that none of these names appeared in the top 10 for 2024, suggesting that congressional trading success isn't always repeatable year over year.
Where Did Pelosi and Greene Land?
Notably absent from the top tier are the two most closely watched congressional traders in America. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whose trades have spawned countless social media accounts and trading newsletters, came in 28th place with a 20.1% gain. That still beat the S&P 500, but it's a far cry from the triple-digit returns some investors might expect from following her moves.
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene fared worse, ranking 38th with an 11.7% return that actually trailed the broader market. Both Pelosi and Greene held positions in NVIDIA Corp (NVDA), which turned out to be the most popular stock among House members last year, but their overall portfolio performance diverged significantly.
For those who prefer to track congressional trades through ETFs rather than individual disclosures, the Unusual Whales Subversive Democratic Trading ETF (NANC) posted a 20.8% gain in 2025, while the Unusual Whales Subversive Republican Trading ETF (GOP) returned 18.8%. Both handily beat the S&P 500.
What Congress Was Buying
The stock shopping lists from Capitol Hill reveal a strong preference for big tech and the Magnificent 7 stocks. NVIDIA dominated congressional purchases with $11.2 million in buying volume from House members throughout 2025.
The top five most-purchased stocks by representatives were:
- NVIDIA Corp (NVDA): $11.2 million
- Microsoft Corp (MSFT): $5 million
- Amazon.com Inc (AMZN): $3.8 million
- Apple Inc (AAPL): $3.7 million
- Alphabet Inc (GOOG) (GOOGL): $3.6 million
The remaining Magnificent 7 members also saw substantial congressional interest. Meta Platforms (META) attracted $1.4 million in purchases, while Tesla Inc (TSLA) saw $555,000 in buying activity.
In total, members of Congress purchased $125 million worth of stock in 2025. They also diversified into alternative assets, buying $2.9 million in cryptocurrency including Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).
By sector, congressional buying concentrated in these areas:
- Technology
- Financial Services
- Health care
- Consumer Cyclical
- Industrials
The Questionable Trades
The Unusual Whales report doesn't just track returns. It also flags trades that raise eyebrows due to timing or potential conflicts of interest. One notable example involves Greene and other members serving on the Homeland Security Committee and the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence purchasing shares of Palantir Technologies (PLTR), a company that works extensively in the national security space.
The report also identifies members who violated the STOCK Act by failing to disclose their stock purchases and sales within the legally required timeframe. These disclosure violations continue to be a recurring issue despite the law requiring timely reporting of congressional trades.
The pattern is clear: when it comes to stock market performance, many elected officials are doing considerably better than their constituents. Whether that's due to superior investment acumen, better information access, or simply being in the right place at the right time remains a matter of ongoing debate among retail traders and political watchdogs alike.
