A fascinating trend has emerged in the financial markets: the creation of investment vehicles designed to mirror the stock market activities of U.S. lawmakers. This approach stems from the notably successful trading records of some congressional members, leading to speculation about their access to privileged information. These unique investment products, structured as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), offer a novel way for the public to potentially capitalize on these insights, raising questions about ethics, market efficiency, and the future of political finance.

In 2023, the firm Subversive introduced two distinct ETFs to track these political investment trends. The Unusual Whales Subversive Democratic Trading ETF, known by its ticker NANC, focuses on the investment choices made by Democratic members of Congress and their families. Conversely, the Unusual Whales Subversive Republican Trading ETF, ticker GOP, is designed to emulate the trades of Republican legislators. Both funds derive their investment data from Unusual Whales, an organization dedicated to monitoring congressional stock transactions. Each ETF carries an expense ratio of 0.74% and allocates its assets based on the total capital invested by members of each respective party.

An analysis of the portfolios reveals distinct preferences. The NANC ETF tends to concentrate on technology-driven, growth-oriented companies. In contrast, the GOP ETF exhibits a more diverse asset allocation, including holdings in the energy sector, industrial firms, various financial services, and even cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. This divergence reflects the broader economic philosophies often associated with each political party.

Since their inception in February 2023, the Democratic-aligned ETF has demonstrated superior performance. By the end of May 2025, it had achieved a cumulative return of 58.9%, translating to an impressive annualized return of 22.18%. The Republican-focused ETF, while delivering a respectable cumulative return of 30.2% (or 12.09% annualized) over the same period, lagged significantly behind its Democratic counterpart. When compared to more conventional and cost-effective alternatives, such as the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (SPY) with its minimal 0.09% expense ratio, the higher fees of these politically linked ETFs become a point of consideration.

Despite the intriguing premise, potential investors should approach these ETFs with a degree of caution. A primary concern revolves around the underlying assumption that congressional members are leveraging non-public information—a practice that, if true, raises serious ethical and regulatory red flags. The very success of these ETFs could inadvertently draw more scrutiny to lawmakers' trading activities, potentially accelerating legislative efforts to restrict or ban such practices, which would, in turn, undermine the ETFs' core strategy. Furthermore, the effectiveness of these funds is hampered by practical limitations, notably the reporting delays mandated by the STOCK Act. This legislation allows members of Congress up to 90 days to disclose their trades, creating a significant time lag that prevents these ETFs from replicating transactions in real-time. This delay, combined with their comparatively high expense ratios, presents tangible obstacles to consistent profitability. Therefore, investing in these ETFs is not merely a wager on the stock-picking prowess of legislators, but also a gamble on the continued permissibility of a system that allows such potentially conflicted trades.