U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, a first-term Republican, has become the most active trader in Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation even as he pushes to ban the practice.
Despite introducing a House bill to ban congressional stock trading in May, Bresnahan has reported 617 stock trades totaling $7.24 million this year, according to investment research firm Quiver Quantitative. He’s placed roughly five times as many trades as the next most active trader in the delegation, freshman Republican Sen. Dave McCormick, a former CEO of Bridgewater, the world’s largest hedge fund.
Bresnahan flipped Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District in 2024 with a narrow 1.6 point win. It’ll be one of the most competitive seats in 2026 and Democrats are already pinning their hopes of retaking the seat to the escalating controversy surrounding the freshman lawmaker’s trades. Even some Republicans are expressing concern that Bresnahan’s stock trading could hamper his reelection prospects.
This spotlight won’t be going away anytime soon. Last month, a Senate committee advanced Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s bill to ban members of Congress from trading. And in Northeast Pennsylvania, an environmental group started airing TV ads on Thursday against Bresnahan on his trading.
Before Congress, Bresnahan was the CEO of his family’s electrical contracting company and heavily invested in the stock market, owning 492 individual stocks, according to his financial disclosure report. He now has a net worth of $48 million, according to the latest estimates from Quiver Quantitative.
Following criticism over his stock trades in April, Bresnahan announced in May that he would establish a blind trust, a move that would formally remove control over how his money is managed.
But late last month, Bresnahan said moving his assets into a blind trust had proven too difficult under House Ethics Committee Rules, and rejected the idea of directing his financial advisers to stop trading in the interim. The multimillionaire told Scranton-area radio station WVIA he would risk “going broke” if he stopped trading, a comment that has sparked renewed criticism.
“And then do what with it?” Bresnahan told WVIA. “Just leave it all in the accounts and just leave it there and lose money and go broke?”
Bresnahan has repeatedly stated that he does not trade his own stocks. “I think you need to know that the trades are being executed on my behalf. I do not have any dialogues with my financial advisers,” Bresnahan said in response to a question during a June 10 telephone town hall.
Bresnahan’s spokesperson Hannah Pope said that he is focused on his constituents, not personal financial gains. She dismissed the media attention on his trades.
“His focus is on serving the working families of Northeastern Pennsylvania. People here care about safe streets, steady jobs, better roads and bridges, and a quality of life that keeps families strong. Rob is committed to those local priorities. He is not interested in political games or Washington talking points,” Pope wrote in a statement.
His largest trading days in Congress, with up to 171 trades in a single day, coincide with politically consequential moments including President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs announcement and votes for the passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Bresnahan’s May 15 sale of $1,001 to $15,000 worth of Centene stock, the largest Medicaid managed care organization in the country, was recently criticized by Joe Rogan on a July 18 episode of the The Joe Rogan Experience for alleged insider trading.
“Everyone wants to use Nancy Pelosi as an example … But if you look at the actual insider trading it’s red and blue,” said Rogan after learning about Bresnahan’s Centene trade.
Rogan’s podcast attracts millions of listeners and his endorsement of Trump last year is widely credited with helping the president appeal to younger men.
Republicans worry that Bresnahan’s trading will turn off the type of voter they need to hold these swing districts.
“Whether he realizes it or not his continuing scuffles on this issue are making him an even more inviting target for Democrats,” GOP political consultant Chris Nicholas said.
“I don’t know what he’s doing but he’s throwing away his seat,” said another Pennsylvania GOP consultant who did not want to be named publicly criticizing his party.
The strategist said it’s especially frustrating since the trades are within his control.
On Thursday, the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund released a TV and digital ad in the 8th District slamming Bresnahan for buying oil stocks and selling shares in clean energy on May 15, then voting for the “Big Beautiful Bill” a week later. The ad claims he “made out like a bandit,” while supporting legislation that threatens clean energy jobs in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Bresnahan’s May 15 trades spanned sectors like biotech, real estate, and aerospace, but the new ad’s criticism focuses on his sale of seven clean energy stocks, including companies involved in hydrogen production and solar, and his purchase of six oil and gas stocks that same day.
“This isn’t just about the remarkably convenient timing of his stock trades. It’s about his lack of care for people he represents who will pay more while their congressman enriches himself,” said Christy Goldfuss, executive director of the NRDC Action Fund.
The small TV and digital buy — about $150,000 on cable, is the first ad to directly target Bresnahan’s trading and could be a preview of more to come.
A Democrat hasn’t yet announced a run in Bresnahan’s district, but Rep. Bridget Kosierowski, Pittston Mayor Mike Lombardo, State Sen. Marty Flynn, and Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti are all rumored to be interested. The party will likely expend major resources to win back the seat formerly held by Democrat Matt Carwright.
“Bresnahan has made hundreds of stock trades worth millions of dollars, playing the markets while voting to screw over hardworking NEPA families. … and that’s exactly why he’ll be a one-term member of Congress,” Eli Cousin, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement.
In Washington, a renewed focus on congressional stock activity has taken hold and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R., Fla.) said she will file a discharge petition to force a House vote on a congressional stock trading ban this fall. Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers are also weighing in on the issue.
“I don’t own a stock — period. Anyone in Congress for reasons other than servant leadership and saving/strengthening our democratic republic needs to go home. Public service is about what you can GIVE, not what you can get,” U.S. Rep Scott Perry (R., Pa.) wrote in an X post on Monday from his personal account. Perry won his seat by just 1.2 points in 2024 making him another top target for Democrats in the upcoming cycle.
In that same tweet, Perry called on House members to bring the TRUST Act, a bipartisan bill prohibiting stock trading for members of Congress and their families, to the floor.
Bresnahan introduced his own stock ban bill in the House, which has been overshadowed as longer-tenured House members push alternative legislation like the TRUST Act.
While on the campaign trail last year, Bresnahan published a letter to the editor in the Pottsville Republican Herald calling for a bipartisan ban on congressional stock trading.
“Whether or not they have done something wrong, the idea that we can buy and sell stocks while voting on legislation that will have a direct impact on these companies is wrong and needs to come to an end immediately,” Bresnahan wrote in the letter.