Ron DeSantis says shameless insider trading in Congress helped fuel 'extinction-level event' for GOP, with total rookies besting Buffett

“This is close to an extinction-level event for Republicans in many parts of the country,” DeSantis said. “We’re in a deep hole nationally as a result of this election.”

Democrats took control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives on Tuesday, flipping more than two dozen Republican-held seats in the House and turning Senate seats in conservative strongholds such as Texas, Kansas and Iowa blue.

Republicans managed to maintain their hold on Florida, which DeSantis called “the last main anchor standing.”

But DeSantis, who is set to leave office in January due to term limits, was clear in his criticism of his own party. He slammed the party for its campaigning tactics, saying Democrats took stronger positions on regulating AI and big tech and hit at the issues impacting rural voters.

He also took aim at members of Congress for not implementing a ban on congressional stock trading, something he said “would be a breath of fresh air for everybody.”

“It’s untenable when you have people going in trading stocks,” DeSantis said. “How do you have no investment acumen, and then all of a sudden get elected to Congress, and then you’re outperforming Warren Buffett?”

“Oh you just happened to buy something related to an industry where you’re on a committee and then it goes up 150%,” the Republican continued.

‘He’s already made 600 trades’

Congressional stock trading was one of the issues on the campaign trail, with candidates turning their opponents’ stock portfolios into political criticism.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Representative-elect Paige Congnetti, who flipped her seat blue, targeted incumbent Republican Rob Bresnahan over his trading activity.

“This year he’s already made 600 trades,” Ms. Cognetti said in the announcement video for her campaign in September, according to the New York Times. “Sold Chinese stocks the week of a tariff. Buys missile stocks before a war. Buys jet stocks before a big contract. Oversees crypto? Buys crypto stocks before a vote.”

Bresnahan’s team pushed back, pointing to Republican support for the Stop Insider Trading Act, legislation that would ban members of Congress and their family members from buying individual stocks.

“Politicians use secret government briefings to trade stocks and get rich at our expense. Thankfully, Rob Bresnahan voted to stop it,” a narrator said in one of Bresnahan’s ads.

In Virginia, Democrats attacked Representative Rob Wittman, claiming he traded more than $2.5 million in stocks while serving in Congress between 2015 and 2023.

“There’s a vicious cycle in Washington: Politicians trade stocks in the industries they’re supposed to regulate, then protect those industries instead of you,” read the caption with a campaign video that his opponent, Shannon Taylor, posted on X.