Alaska Senator’s Stock Trading Under Scrutiny
Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan has engaged in stock trading activities amounting to as much as $2 million while serving in office, which may shed light on his resistance to bipartisan efforts aimed at prohibiting stock trading by Congress members.
Sullivan, who is seeking re-election for a third term this year, is expected to face Democratic contender and former Representative Mary Peltola.
Members of both the Senate and the House are permitted to trade stocks individually. However, the STOCK Act of 2012 mandates that these transactions be reported publicly, ensuring that lawmakers adhere to federal insider-trading laws.
From 2015 to 2024, Sullivan disclosed nearly 80 stock trades valued between $550,000 and $2.08 million. He stands as the sole Alaskan federal politician to have reported such transactions during this timeframe.
According to Quiver Quantitative, a platform monitoring congressional stock trading and wealth, Sullivan’s net worth has climbed from $3 million in 2015 to $8.29 million, marking a 176% increase.
Sullivan’s investment portfolio has consistently surpassed the stock market’s performance. In 2024, it experienced a 47.5% increase, nearly double the S&P’s average gain of 24.9%. In 2023, his portfolio surged by 60.5%, significantly outperforming the S&P’s 26.29% rise.
The issue of stock trading by Congress members has gained prominence amid concerns about rising prices and wealth inequality. Since 2018, several Senate resolutions have sought to outlaw the practice, enjoying nearly universal bipartisan backing. Sullivan, however, has not supported or publicly backed any of these initiatives, and none of the proposals have been enacted into law.
Peltola, who served in the House between 2022 and 2025, expressed concern to Alaska Public Media over the potential for corruption due to stock trading by lawmakers.
“I thought that there were protections that prevented self-dealing and self-enriching,” said Peltola. “I was quite surprised to find out that it was even a discussion whether it should be done, and that there was a move afoot to prohibit that legislation from going forward to ban stock trading.”
Peltola has actively supported a ban on the practice.
Between 2018 and 2022, Sullivan reportedly violated the STOCK Act on at least three occasions by failing to report trades within the required 45-day window. Two of these involved RPM International, a company led by Sullivan’s brother, Frank Sullivan. The senator later amended his filings to include these trades without facing legal repercussions.
Alaska last elected a Democratic senator in 2008. On April 13, Peltola’s campaign announced a record-breaking fundraising achievement of $8.9 million in the first quarter of 2026, marking the highest amount raised by any Senate campaign in the state’s history.
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