Filings show Tim Walz doesn’t own stocks, as efforts to bar lawmakers from trading intensify
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Who’s not checking the portfolio… Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, VP Kamala Harris’ running mate, has something in common with nearly 80% of Americans — and it’s not that he doesn’t know what “brat summer” is. Financial disclosures show that neither Walz nor his wife, Gwen, directly owns a single stock. The disclosures also show that Walz isn’t invested in mutual funds, bonds, or crypto and doesn’t own real estate. It’s a highly unusual financial situation for a lawmaker on a national ticket, and it highlights both major parties’ attempts to appeal to working-class Americans.
Retirement plan: Filings show that Walz’s only investment assets are pensions, including one from his job as a teacher before he ran for Congress in 2006.
Worth check: Walz disclosed a net worth of under $1M. That’s far below Harris’ estimated $8M, Sen. JD Vance’s ~$7.5M, and former Prez Trump’s $5.7B.
Trading bans in focus… Walz’s holdings (or lack thereof) are in line with his efforts to curb stock trading by congressional lawmakers: he sponsored 2012’s STOCK Act, which established the current system of trading disclosures for lawmakers (and paved the way for ETFs that track those moves). The idea behind congressional trading bans is that lawmakers have privileged knowledge that could be traded on (think: an upcoming policy that would affect a certain industry). About a dozen trading-ban proposals have been intro’d in the current Congress, including a bipartisan Senate bill that’s gone further than any previous attempt.
It’s a race for the working class… A third of the 100 congressional lawmakers who reported trades last year beat the S&P 500, while 86% of Americans support blocking members of Congress and their families from trading individual stocks. Walz’s relatively humble finances could boost his appeal among working-class voters. The GOP may be trying to do the same with “Hillbilly Elegy” author Vance.