Top 10 Stock Traders In Congress For 2024: How Nancy Pelosi, Pete Sessions, Susan Collins, Marjorie Taylor Greene Rank

The trading activity of Congress members is drawing increasing attention from retail traders and political analysts, with platforms like Benzinga's Government Trades page providing detailed analysis of their trades.

A new report shows that several members of Congress beat the overall market by a significant margin in 2024.

What Happened: The overall stock market soared in 2024 with major stock indexes like the S&P 500, which is tracked by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, making multiple new all-time highs throughout the year.

A new report from Unusual Whales shows that the majority of members of Congress who held five or more stocks in 2024 saw their portfolios post a higher gain than the S&P 500 for the year.

The average gains were 31.1% for Democrats and 26.1% for Republicans, versus a gain of 24.9% for the SPY, based on the Dec. 29, 2024 to Dec. 30, 2024 time period.

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Top 10 Stock Traders in Congress: Unusual Whales compiled the returns of the members of Congress. The returns are based on the gains from the start of 2024 to the end and do not take the holding time into account.

Here's a look at the top 10 for 2024:

1. David Rouzer (R-N.C.), Representative, +149.0%
2. Debbie Schultz (D-Fla.), Representative, +142.3%
3. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Senator, +123.8%
4. Roger Williams (R-Texas), Representative, +111.2%
5. Morgan McGarvey (D-Ky.), Representative, +105.8%
6. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.), Representative, +98.6%
7. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), Representative, +77.5%
8. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Senator, +77.5%
9. David Kustoff (R-Tenn.), Representative, +71.5%
10. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Representative, +70.9%

This year's list includes two Senators and eight Representatives. The list also includes four Democrats and six Republicans.

Several of these figures have appeared on past lists. Rouzer was ranked fourth in the 2023 report and seventh in the 2021 report. Schultz ranked second in the 2022 report. Wyden ranked sixth in the 2023 report. Sessions ranked 10^th in the 2023 report. Pelosi was ranked ninth in the 2023 report and ranked sixth in the 2021 report.

Ranking outside the top 10 are several notable names, including Dan Crenshaw, 13th at +61.3%, Mitch McConnell, 21st at +42.4%, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, 23rd at +30.2%.

Greene, who took a small break from trading, has been actively buying stocks in the second half of 2024, including many technology names.

For more on Congress trading history on an annual basis, see Benzinga's coverage of the Unusual Whales reports from 2023, 2022 and 2021.

Unusual Whales notes that Rouzer mainly holds ETFs and is not an active trader. His ownership of NVIDIA Corporation NVDA and other stocks helped boost his 2024 return.

While most the names included own at least five stocks, Bucshon is an exception with his only active stock held being Trump Media & Technology Group DJT. Unusual Whales said the representative bought the stock in 2021 and hit break even in 2024.

The report also makes special mention of Pelosi, calling her "the greatest options trader of all time." Pelosi's transactions have gained a wide following with the transactions coming from her husband Paul Pelosi and later disclosed by the former Speaker of the House.

Some top options for Pelosi include Palo Alto Networks PANW, Broadcom Inc AVGO and Nvidia, which were up 93%, 97% and 273% respectively in 2024.

Pelosi's trades are often in-the-money options years from expiration that can later be exercised into stock positions.

McGarvey had one of the more unusual trades in 2024 with a disclosure saying the Democrat bought shares of Trump Media & Technology Group shortly after Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election. The Representative later disclosed that the stock was sold for a loss, and the purchase was made without McGarvey's knowledge.

Bucshon appeared on the 2024 list, but could be left off in the future, as he did not seek re-election in the 2024 election and is now out of Congress.

What's Next: Several members of Congress have pushed for a ban on Congressional trading, including Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).

Khanna told Benzinga last year that he will continue advocating for a congressional vote to ban the practice.

Khanna said that despite his continued speeches in the House advocating for a ban on stock trading, there is a "collective shrug" in Congress regarding the issue.

“It is shameful that over three years after the pandemic with the shenanigans from those senators who sold their stock after learning of the pandemic” there still hasn’t been a vote, Khanna said.

Khanna said that people were outraged at the time when several senators sold their stocks in tourism and other sectors that would be hurt, knowing that the economy could crash from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Senators making money when the rest of the country was suffering during the pandemic.”

Without a bill to vote on, members of Congress are currently allowed to buy and sell stocks, options and even meme cryptocurrencies as long as they properly disclose the transaction within 45 days.

Investors can get exposure to the disclosed trading activity of members of Congress with the Series Portfolios Trust Unusual Whales Subversive Democratic Trading ETF NANC and the Series Portfolios Trust Unusual Whales Subversive Republican Trading ETF KRUZ.

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