Republican lawmakers’ brokerage accounts have undergone a significant shift as GOP members of Congress load up on investments into areas touted by President Trump — in particular Intel (INTC) and bitcoin (BTC-USD).
Lawmaker trading on both sides of the aisle remains controversial, but a longstanding portfolio divide along party lines is clearly evolving.
Democrats’ investments have traditionally been tech-heavy in recent years, while GOP holdings often focused on more traditional sectors. But an exchange-traded fund that allows investors to mirror the aggregate portfolio of Republican lawmakers is perhaps the starkest example of a change on the GOP side.
It was long dominated by blue-chip companies like Shell (SHEL), Philip Morris (PM), and ConocoPhillips (COP). The makeup is dramatically different today, with the fund now reporting top five holdings that include Intel, Nvidia (NVDA), and the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT).
The increased GOP focus on tech and tech-aligned stocks mirrors Trump’s own high volume of recent trades in the sector in the first quarter of 2026 after the US government took a 10% stake in Intel last year.
The president’s account traded over $50 million in “Magnificent 7” stocks last quarter and also traded Intel, recent disclosures show, alongside his regular praising of the companies’ CEOs.
Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers’ strategies in recent years don’t appear to have changed as dramatically. Nvidia makes up nearly 10% of Democratic lawmakers’ holdings, according to a parallel Democratic ETF that trades under the ticker NANC.
The change among GOP holdings does appear to have improved their returns — at least so far in 2026.
Both party ETFs have yielded positive returns this year, but Republicans have so far outperformed the market and are up over 20%. (Intel being up more than 220% in that span is clearly helping.) The Democratic ETF is up about 9%.
Quiver Quantitative, another prominent tracker of lawmaker trading, estimates that 24 individual lawmakers have enjoyed returns so far in 2026 greater than 20%.
The list includes 11 Democrats and 13 Republicans.
Lawmaker trading in Intel
The government’s 10% Intel stake — which Trump regularly touts, doing so again this week — has fueled the most notable shift in GOP portfolios.
Lawmakers have been trading the chipmaker at a lower level for years, but Intel now makes up 7.72% of total GOP portfolios, according to the ETF’s latest holdings breakdown.
That’s a massive jump from about 3% just a few months prior. The chipmaker was not even in the top 10 in years past.
All told, lawmakers from both parties have traded Intel stock nearly 50 times since Trump’s inauguration in trades valued at between $525,000 and $1.8 million (the stock trades are disclosed in broad ranges).
The timing of some of the trades has raised some eyebrows.
Analytics platform Unusual Whales — whose data fuels the KRUZ and NANC ETFs — previously noted that Rep. Tim Moore, a North Carolina Republican and member of the House Financial Services Committee, traded Intel stock several times in July and August of 2025, before Trump announced the government was taking a stake on Aug. 22.
A spokesperson for Moore said he sold his entire Intel portfolio prior to Trump’s announcement and has not held the stock since.
Other Trump-friendly names in GOP portfolios
Investments in the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF represent about 4% of total GOP holdings as Trump continues to tout the industry and promise government support.
Just this week, the president posted a promise to create a “future-proof” market structure for the overall sector that “cannot be undone by the Crypto Haters.”
Likewise, Nvidia has been lavished with White House attention. CEO Jensen Huang was a late addition to Trump’s recent trip to China, and his company remains a highly popular stock among traders on both sides of the aisle.
Unusual Whales estimates that 48 politicians from both parties hold Nvidia stock valued between $17 million and $70 million.
The data also shows GOP lawmakers have invested in some companies that have been cross-wise with the Trump White House at times.
Trump and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon have exchanged sharp words over the years, but the company’s stock still makes up about 3.8% of GOP lawmakers’ holdings. (Trump has likewise shown a willingness at times to trade in stocks of companies he criticizes.)
Overall, the lawmakers’ portfolios are ever shifting as trading remains rampant and shows little sign of slowing. Perhaps the most recent eyebrow-raising example of lawmakers’ attachment to trading was recently first spotted by NOTUS.
The outlet pointed out that Rep. Tom Kean, a New Jersey Republican who has been missing from Capitol Hill for over 80 days dealing with what his office calls “a personal health matter,” hasn’t been stopped trading stocks.
The congressman recently disclosed a range of trades in April in companies like Take-Two Interactive and Texas Instruments — even as he was missing votes in Washington.
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
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