DeSantis and Rep. Luna push ban on congressional stock trading; Florida to add 'no-trade' checkbox for federal candidates

Governor Ron DeSantis said at a Pinellas County event that he supports U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s effort to stop what he called insider-style stock trading by members of Congress and outlined a Florida-level transparency measure he said would help voters hold federal candidates accountable.

"Do you intend to trade individual stocks while you're in Congress?" DeSantis proposed as the exact wording of a checkbox Florida would add to candidate qualification forms, and he said a follow-up question at re-election would ask whether the candidate actually traded while in office. He said the step is within state authority and would allow voters to judge whether candidates kept their promise.

Luna described her bill as "the most bipartisan bill currently in Congress," telling the audience she and allies have met with House leadership and expect to put legislation on the floor "this quarter" that she says will "permanently stop the insider trading." Luna also asserted, attributing data or calculations in her remarks, that members who engage in trading have, on average, produced outsized returns compared with market benchmarks.

Both speakers emphasized the ethics and public-trust dimensions of the proposal. DeSantis framed the reform alongside his broader agenda favoring term limits and a balanced-budget amendment, saying states can press reforms when federal action stalls. He noted Florida has led on state-level fiscal rules and said voters deserve clear disclosures about candidates’ financial intentions.

The two officials used direct examples and numbers in their remarks that they attributed to legislative research or campaign assertions; the claims about returns—including Luna’s statement that some members’ trading has outperformed the S&P and DeSantis’s references to individual, large gains—are presented in this article as assertions made in the event and are not independently verified here.

Next steps: Luna said the House will consider legislation soon; DeSantis said Florida will place the checkbox on candidate forms and urged Florida’s federal delegation to back the congressional bill.