DALLAS (AP) — Following six years in the U.S. House and two failed Senate bids, Colin Allred says he regularly encounters voters who believe politicians are simply seeking personal financial gain in Washington.
“‘What about the stock trading in Congress? What about people getting rich in Congress?’” Allred reports hearing from constituents frequently. “And I have to say to them, you’re absolutely right about that, too. We need to be better.”
Allred is competing against Rep. Julie Johnson in Tuesday’s Democratic runoff for a Dallas-area House seat, joining numerous candidates attempting to tap into public frustration regarding congressional stock trading. Allred has criticized Johnson for transactions involving firms such as Palantir, a data analytics company connected to President Donald Trump’s administration.
Johnson explained that a financial manager handled her transactions and accused Allred of being “only out for himself.” She referenced financial disclosures showing Allred’s wealth nearly doubled while serving in Congress, though Allred maintained his assets were placed in a blind trust and the increase stemmed from his wife’s earnings as a law firm partner.
“To be clear, the sum total I made on that trade was only $90,” Johnson stated regarding her Palantir stock. “My opponent is trying to make it seem like it was hundreds or thousands.”
This contentious race reflects wider Democratic Party disagreements about money’s influence in politics. Previously championed mainly by progressive activists and reform advocates, claims that political opponents are corrupt or controlled by special interests have become standard in Democratic primaries. This increased scrutiny of lawmakers’ personal finances comes as the party seeks to strengthen its anti-corruption messaging against Trump and develop a reform agenda should Democrats gain control in the midterms.
Trump ran on pledges to “drain the swamp,” exploiting Americans’ distrust of Washington’s political establishment. With his family now benefiting financially during his return to the White House, Democrats are working to reclaim advantage on an issue that could resonate with voters.
“The difficulty is that right now, no party has the mantle on anti-corruption,” explained Daniel Lobo-Lewis, a Washington political consultant. “Many voters outside of the beltway see both parties as corrupt, because they see all politicians as bought by the donors or by their own self-interest.”
Lobo-Lewis and Nico Agosto established the Political Integrity Project last year to monitor stock trading and corporate donations by Congress members.
The group requests candidates sign an “integrity pledge” promising to avoid stock trading or corporate donations while serving in Congress and commit not to become lobbyists after leaving office. Approximately 90 challengers and seven current lawmakers have signed the pledge, all Democrats.
“If we want to, in any way, start rebuilding trust in our political institutions, it starts with no-brainer changes like this that have an approval rating above and beyond any other issue you could imagine,” Lobo-Lewis stated.
Congress has not yet passed a stock trading prohibition for members, although insider trading remains illegal for legislators as it is for everyone else. Multiple proposals exist on Capitol Hill but none have advanced.
A bipartisan measure to prohibit congressional stock trading failed to progress this year despite Trump’s endorsement during his State of the Union address. Democrats continue disagreeing over alleged loopholes in their competing proposals.
A competitive Democratic-leaning Utah congressional race has included attacks on candidates’ personal wealth. State Sen. Nate Blouin criticized his primary opponent, former Rep. Ben McAdams, for owning equity in a Utah data center company, and attacked other candidates for previous investments and employment.
McAdams said the equity worth several thousand dollars represented payment for previous contract work his government consulting firm completed while he was a private citizen. His campaign defended the data center project by noting it would use no water and operate on clean energy.
A McAdams spokesperson also alleged Blouin “is currently hiding his corporate donations” by removing them from campaign disclosure reports, which McAdams’ campaign claims “is not only deceitful, it breaks campaign finance law.”
In an interview, Blouin denied breaking the law and explained he removed the donations because he returned the money to each donor.
“It was actually quite uncomfortable to return some of those,” Blouin said, because some firms included local businesses and clean energy companies. “But there is a perception that campaign contributions from lobbyists and companies influence votes, and I think there is some truth to that.”
In a New York City congressional district encompassing both Wall Street and the Democratic Socialists of America’s headquarters, the city’s former comptroller, Brad Lander, has accused Rep. Dan Goldman of attempting to purchase another term by using personal wealth to match campaign contributions. Goldman, an heir to the Levi Strauss family fortune, says he placed all assets in a blind trust after taking office in 2023.
A Goldman spokesperson said Lander is “running a deceitful campaign based on absurd lies that Dan is beholden to special interests” and that Goldman has raised more campaign funds than Lander “without taking a dime of corporate PAC money.” Goldman has invested personal money in the race, the spokesperson said, “to ensure that the NY-10 voters can be sure that he is beholden only to them and his principles.”
Lander said Goldman’s spending is “not illegal, but it is certainly anti-democratic when a quarter-billionaire like Dan Goldman not only dumps millions of his own inherited wealth into his elections but also solicits money from the same forces who are rigging the economy and worsening the affordability crisis.”
Even lawmakers who support congressional stock trading bans are facing criticism.
Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman of California confronts multiple primary challengers who have criticized the congressman for owning stocks while serving in Congress. Sherman does not trade individual stocks and supports a trading ban.
“I only own three individual stocks which I inherited from my mother when she passed away, which were originally acquired by my grandmother,” Sherman explained. “I have never sold them because I made a promise to my constituents that I would not buy and sell individual stocks.”
One of Sherman’s primary challengers is Jake Levine, a former climate adviser to President Joe Biden, who signed the Political Integrity Project pledge. However, Sherman said Levine “refuses to disclose key elements of his $18 million stock portfolio, and actively bought and sold stocks while serving on the National Security Council.” Levine has stated he cannot disclose the portfolio because his family manages it and he has no oversight.
In the campaign to replace former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California State Sen. Scott Wiener has criticized his progressive opponent, Saikat Chakrabarti, regarding his personal wealth. Chakrabarti is a former software engineer who earned millions as an early Stripe employee. He later became Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s first chief of staff.
Wiener said Chakrabarti “has enormous investments” and “is trying to buy this seat” while “spreading bogus conspiracy theories” with his wealth. He criticized Chakrabarti for not revealing the past decade of stock trades.
“If you’re making a ban on stock trades a central part of your campaign — as Saikat is doing, running around saying that everyone under the sun is corrupt — how about you tell the voters about your own stock trading history,” Wiener said.
Chakrabarti responded that his wealth as a private citizen is irrelevant to his potential service in office and that he would place all assets in a blind trust if elected. He criticized Wiener for receiving support from super PACs funded by AI firm Anthropic and other major corporations.
“This is all part of a larger problem, which is just the whole idea of corruption in our politics,” Chakrabarti said. “If you’re in Congress, you sit on committees that oversee a lot of these industries, and it’s unethical to be using that insider information, that knowledge to make stock trades. But that doesn’t apply to a private citizen.”
