Democrat Shaping Party's AI Agenda Disclosed Chip Stock Buys After Backing Trading Ban

A disclosure filing released this week shows an Oct. 12 purchase of between $1,001 and $15,000 of Benchmark Electronics stock, according to CNBC, which first reported the trades. A Morgan Stanley account Gottheimer holds jointly bought up to $15,000 of Applied Materials shares on Oct. 26, following three earlier purchases of Advanced Micro Devices. CNBC said there is no evidence of wrongdoing.

The trades matter because of where Gottheimer sits. Democrats take control of Congress in January, with new power to regulate and investigate the AI industry. Gottheimer, a former Microsoft executive, is on the House Financial Services subcommittee that oversees AI in finance and has introduced AI legislation of his own. Other Democrats are already moving against the industry. Reps. Maxine Waters and Greg Casar have introduced a resolution opposing taxpayer bailouts for AI companies, which was referred in part to Gottheimer's committee. Casar has also called for AI executives to testify under oath, and some Democrats want to restrict or halt new data centre construction.

Haraden Bottomley, Gottheimer's spokesman, said the congressman handed control of his investments to a third party with "full investment discretion" before he took office in 2017. "Gottheimer is also awaiting approval from Congress of a blind trust. In the meantime, he has taken the extra step of setting up an independent trust," Bottomley said.

The purchases sit awkwardly with Gottheimer's record on congressional trading. In July he was one of only 13 Democrats who voted for the Stop Insider Trading Act, which would stop lawmakers and their families from buying most individual stocks. The bill passed the House but has not become law. Some Democrats opposed it because it included a voter-ID provision, and some because they said it did not go far enough in limiting what elected officials can buy and hold. Four years earlier, Gottheimer backed legislation requiring lawmakers to put their investments in blind trusts and pledged to set one up himself.

The AI-linked trades are a small part of a large portfolio. The five purchases together were worth between $5,005 and $75,000. Gottheimer's disclosed household assets are $15.1 million to $59 million, including up to $44.5 million in stocks. His household has reported more than 1,100 securities transactions over three years, according to Follow the Filings. He reports assets jointly with his wife, Marla Tusk, who is general counsel at a political consulting firm. He also disclosed buying Applied Materials shares in August and selling some in September.

All three companies depend on spending on AI hardware. AMD competes with Nvidia in AI chips. Applied Materials makes semiconductor manufacturing equipment and was Benchmark's largest disclosed customer in 2025, at 14% of revenue, according to a securities filing. Benchmark's Oct. 28 earnings report showed that 30% of its third-quarter revenue came from semiconductor equipment and 16% from advanced computing and communications.

The purchases came shortly before a sharp sell-off in AI stocks. On Thursday the Nasdaq Composite fell 5.5%, Nvidia dropped more than 9% and AMD lost roughly 17%. Benchmark fell nearly 17% over Wednesday and Thursday to close at $59.34, about 25% below its closing price on the day Gottheimer bought it, before recovering somewhat on Friday.

The Stop Insider Trading Act has not passed the Senate, and Gottheimer's blind trust is still waiting for congressional approval.