A senior official in President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security appears to have found one Democratic strategy worth backing: copying the party’s stock trades.
Pedro Allende, the Department of Homeland Security’s under secretary for science and technology, disclosed purchasing between $15,000 and $50,000 of the Subversive Democratic Trading ETF (BATS:NANC) on May 15, according to a financial filing first reported by NOTUS. The fund mirrors trades made by Democratic members of Congress. Allende also bought more conventional index funds, including the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ), the filing showed.
The investment appears to be the first of its kind disclosed by a high-ranking Trump administration official. It is especially notable because Allende is a longtime Republican official who has served in the Trump administration and previously worked under Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. His NANC purchase suggests that, at least in the stock market, following the other side’s moves can sometimes transcend party lines.
Dan Weiskopf, co-portfolio manager of the NANC fund, told Yahoo Finance that the congressional purchase is a “validation” of the fund’s strategy. He said the purchase suggests government officials also recognize that members of Congress may possess valuable market insights.
NANC Vs GOP
Launched by Subversive ETFs, NANC tracks publicly disclosed stock trades made by Democratic members of Congress and has built a portfolio heavily tilted toward large-cap technology names. Its top holdings currently include Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), reflecting lawmakers’ continued interest in artificial intelligence and big-tech companies.
Its sister fund, the Subversive Republican Trading ETF (BATS:GOP), follows the trading patterns by Republican lawmakers. The fund is more tilted toward energy, defense and financial players like Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX), L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:LHX), and Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC).
While GOP has outperformed in 2026, gaining about 20% year to date, NANC has broadly tracked the S&P 500’s returns this year, gaining close to 7%.
Despite the performance gap, NANC remains the more popular fund, managing more than three times the assets of GOP. Weiskopf attributed much of that advantage to investor fascination with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s trading record, which has long drawn attention on Wall Street.
That interest intensified again this month after financial disclosures showed Pelosi reporting up to $6 million in new call option purchases tied to Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) and Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER), per Yahoo Finance, keeping congressional trading firmly in the spotlight.
For ETF investors, the disclosure highlights how congressional-trading funds are increasingly being viewed not merely as political novelties, but as legitimate thematic investment products, even by those serving inside the government.
Photo: created with images from lev radin and Sheila Fitzgerald for Shutterstock
Recent Comments