Governor Ron DeSantis kicked off the new year on Florida’s Gulf Coast with a sharp rebuke of Washington’s political class, joining forces with Representative Anna Paulina Luna to launch a new offensive against what they describe as rampant “insider trading” by members of Congress.
Speaking to a crowd in Pinellas County, DeSantis argued that the American political system has been eroded by career politicians who use their positions for personal financial gain. The Governor, joined by Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, laid out a plan to use Florida’s election machinery to force transparency on federal candidates, specifically regarding their stock portfolios.
“You look at Nancy Pelosi’s portfolio,” DeSantis said, highlighting the often-criticized investment returns of the former House Speaker. “If you buy a stock and it goes up 400 percent in a month, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime investment thing. And yet, these guys seem to be doing this quite frequently.”
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DeSantis quipped that given her returns, perhaps Pelosi should be hired to run Florida’s state pension fund, noting that she and other ranking members often vastly outperform market legends like Warren Buffett. Rep. Luna backed the Governor’s assessment, citing data that members on both sides of the aisle are seeing massive returns that dwarf the S&P 500.
“How could you ever expect members of Congress to truly work for the American people if this is indeed what they’re doing?” Luna asked.
The “Transparency Trap”
While acknowledging that the State of Florida cannot legally ban federal officials from trading stocks—citing Supreme Court precedent—DeSantis proposed a workaround designed to shame politicians into compliance.
The Governor announced plans to work with the state legislature to alter the qualifying forms for federal candidates in Florida. Under the new proposal, candidates will have to answer a specific question on the ballot paperwork: “Will you abstain from trading individual stocks while in Congress?”
The maneuver includes a catch for incumbents seeking re-election. They will face a follow-up question requiring them to disclose if they kept their previous pledge.
“If they say yes [they traded], then that means they broke their word to you and honestly lied on those forms,” DeSantis explained. “It helps you as a voter to be able to ferret it out.”
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Founding Fathers and Term Limits
Beyond the stock trading issue, DeSantis used the event to double down on his push for a Convention of States to enact congressional term limits and a Balanced Budget Amendment. He argued that the “power of the purse” has been surrendered to an unelected bureaucracy, and that a rotating door of leadership is necessary to break the cycle.
The Governor also took a moment to highlight a cultural initiative involving the relocation of historical statues. DeSantis told the crowd that Florida is actively acquiring statues of Founding Fathers that have been removed by other states.
“I can get these on discount because the liberal states are taking them down, so it’s a buyer’s market,” DeSantis said. He detailed plans to place statues of figures like George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson in Florida counties that share their names, framing it as an effort to preserve American history.
The legislative session will determine how quickly the new candidate disclosure requirements can be implemented, but the Governor made it clear that he intends for Florida to lead the national conversation on congressional ethics reform.
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