2022 was a rough year for the stock market and its participants, as the S&P 500 fell by 19% while the Nasdaq 100 lost 33%. However, that didn’t stop many politicians from outperforming the market by a wide margin.
Unusual Whales has released its 2022 Congressional Report, which details the trades and performance of U.S. politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties. The website reports a quarter of Congress actively traded up to $788 million through more than 12,700 transactions. Furthermore, Congress outperformed the S&P 500 based on total returns.
Meanwhile, several politicians made hundreds of trades last year despite their busy full-time jobs. For example, California Rep. Ro Khanna made 514 stock purchases in the tech sector totaling up to $13.1 million, while Texas Rep. Michael McCaul made 104 tech stock purchases worth up to $7.18 million.
5 Politicians Who Beat the Stock Market (and Nancy Pelosi) in 2022
Unusual Whales calculated that the average Democrat in office lost 1.76% last year, while the average Republican returned 0.38%, both significantly outperforming the S&P 500. Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi wasn’t so lucky. The website reports that she lost 20.8% last year and lost 19.8% for trades made in 2022. So, who outperformed her?
- Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly: 239%
- Maryland Rep. David Trone: 198.8%
- Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall: 106.1%
- Kentucky Rep. James Comer: 81%
- Nevada Rep. Susie Lee: 64.6%
Please keep in mind these returns include unrealized gains. Next, let’s take a look at the top politicians based on trades solely made in 2022:
- Texas Rep. Patrick Fallon: 51.6%
- Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz: 50.8%
- Nevada Rep. Susie Lee: 21.4%
- Ohio Rep. Dave Joyce: 13.6%
- Michigan Sen. Gary Peters: 11.7%
Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly absolutely crushed the S&P 500 last year and is the only politician to boast a return of more than 200%. In 2o21, a congressional ethics watchdog group stated that there was “substantial reason to believe” Kelly’s wife had traded with nonpublic information to conduct a profitable trade.
On the other hand, several politicians experienced massive drawdowns. Unusual Whale reports Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson saw a decline of 93.1%, while Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt experienced a decline of 80.8%. In total, 10 politicians saw drawdowns of 40% or greater, while 11 politicians saw gains of 40% or greater.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
