Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) might be the most famous congressional stock picker in America, with retail investors tracking her every move. But here's the thing: in 2025, she didn't even make the top 10 list of best-performing congressional portfolios. Sure, she beat the market, but apparently there were lawmakers out there absolutely crushing it while Pelosi was merely doing pretty well.
The Congressional Trading All-Stars
Tracking what members of Congress buy and sell has become something of a national pastime. Some trades catch attention because of their suspicious timing, others because they raise eyebrows about potential conflicts of interest given what committees these folks sit on. It's a whole thing.
New data from Quiver Quantitative, reported by the New York Post, reveals the 10 congressional investors who posted the biggest gains in 2025. Here's the leaderboard:
- Rep. Tim Moore (R-N.C.): +52%
- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas): +50%
- Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.): +37%
- Rep. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.): +37%
- Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-N.Y.): +35%
- Rep. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska): +35%
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.): +33%
- Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.): +29%
- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.): +29%
- Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.): +29%
The breakdown: three senators, seven representatives, eight Republicans, two Democrats. For context, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) gained 16.6% during the year. Every single person on this list more than doubled that return. Some tripled it.
"Some members seemed to spend more time managing their portfolios than they did at their day job on Capitol Hill," Quiver Quantitative CEO Christopher Kardatzke told the New York Post. He noted that members of Congress weren't just buying and selling stocks in 2025—they were trading options and even dabbling in meme coins.
Where Did The Big Names Land?
Marjorie Taylor Greene, who became one of the most-followed congressional traders by retail investors in 2025, secured the seventh spot with a 33% gain. Her last day in Congress was Monday, which means investors will lose access to her trading disclosures going forward. Greene has previously stated that a portfolio manager handles her trades without insider information.
As for Pelosi? She posted an 18% gain in 2025, landing well outside the top 10. That's still better than the broader market, but it's a far cry from her 54% gain in 2024 that Quiver Quantitative reported. Like Greene, Pelosi won't be required to disclose her stock picks much longer—she announced she's not running for re-election in 2026 and will leave Congress in 2027.
What Were They Trading?
Tim Moore, the year's top performer, has made headlines for his trading activity before. He's been buying and selling Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL) stock around the time the company's logo change went viral. Moore also traded several small-cap stocks including Hyster-Yale Inc (HY) and Genprex Inc (GNPX). He disclosed over 200 trades during 2025, which is a lot of portfolio management for someone with a day job running the country.
Ted Cruz, who ranked second with his 50% gain, benefited primarily from a large holding in Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS). He sold part of his position during 2025 with the stock hitting all-time highs. Goldman Sachs shares were up 55.8% for the year, making it one of the top-performing Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks.
McClain, who claimed third place, has been flagged for reporting trades late. So has Thomas Suozzi, who ranked fifth. Suozzi's $9.5 million investment portfolio is heavily concentrated in NVIDIA Corp (NVDA) stock, according to the report. Nvidia shares gained 34.8% in 2025, which certainly helped his returns.
The Bigger Picture
Calls to ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks have intensified in recent years, with support from some elected officials themselves. The argument is pretty straightforward: lawmakers have access to information that could influence markets, and even if they're not using it, the appearance of impropriety is corrosive to public trust.
But for now, buying and selling stocks, options, and cryptocurrency remains perfectly legal for members of Congress. And as this list shows, many of them are beating the broader market indexes like the S&P 500 year after year. Whether that's skill, luck, or something else entirely depends on who you ask. What's clear is that a lot of retail investors are watching closely and trying to replicate these trades—hoping that following congressional portfolios might be their own ticket to market-beating returns.