BREAKING: “Iowa Senate Candidate Ashley Hinson Touts Congressional Stock Ban, While a Loophole Fueled Her Own Wealth”
Heartland Signal: Despite “Boasting That She ‘Proactively’ Sold Her Individual Stocks” Her “Massive Private Portfolio Remained Intact”
Heartland Signal: ‘[Hinson’s] Family Net Worth Quietly Skyrocketed by Up to 10 Times Since She Was Sworn into Office”
DES MOINES – Despite claiming she sold her individual stocks and campaigning on a Congressional stock trading ban, Ashley Hinson quietly holds up to $5 million in insurance company stock that has increased her net worth by up to 10 times since she was sworn into office, according to a new report from Heartland Signal.
While Hinson campaigns on a stock trading ban, she actually opposed a bipartisan discharge petition that would have forced a vote on legislation to ban stock trading and ownership for Members of Congress, their spouses, and their dependent children. The legislation she does support “does nothing to ban ownership of existing assets,” allowing her to maintain her portfolio “while voting on federal policies that can directly impact the industry.”
“Ashley Hinson only claims to support a congressional stock trading ban because it’s politically popular, but the truth is she’s gotten rich off the multimillion-dollar insurance stock portfolio she still holds, despite claiming to sell off her stock,” said Iowa Democratic Party spokesperson Drew Myers. “In November, Iowans who are struggling to put food on the table and gas in their tanks will see through Hinson’s hypocrisy and reject her self-dealing.”
Heartland Signal: Iowa Senate candidate Ashley Hinson touts congressional stock ban, while a loophole field her own wealth
- In a campaign ad published last month for her U.S. Senate bid, U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) looks directly into the camera and says, “Members of Congress should not trade stocks.” On the campaign trail, Hinson has repeatedly leaned into this narrative, boasting that she “proactively” sold her individual stocks to send a message to Iowans that she did not run for office to get wealthy.
- But a closer look at Hinson’s federal financial disclosures and her recent votes in Congress, reveals a gap between her campaign rhetoric and her personal finances. While Hinson did divest from just publicly traded stocks, her family’s net worth quietly skyrocketed by up to 10 times since she was sworn into office in January 2021.
- Within months of Hinson taking her seat in Congress, her husband, Matthew Arenholz, sold his ownership stake in an insurance company called Elliott Hartman Agency to a private equity platform for more than $1 million. Following the sale, the couple retained between $1 million and $5 million in private stock in the consolidated company. Because Hinson only divested from public equities, this massive private portfolio remained completely intact — propping up a family net worth that climbed from a maximum of $1.6 million before she took office to as much as $8 million by 2024.
- While Hinson publicly claims that serving in Congress should be “a privilege, not an investment opportunity,” the legislative reforms she champions would not even touch her family’s primary financial asset.
- Earlier this year, Hinson proudly touted her co-sponsorship of the Stop Insider Trading Act (SITA), a bill she claimed would “drain the swamp” by banning individual stock trading.
- SITA also does nothing to ban ownership of existing assets, meaning Hinson could continue to hold millions in private insurance stock while voting on federal policies that can directly impact the industry.
- Last December, Hinson refused to sign a House discharge petition that would have forced a floor vote on the End Congressional Stock Trading Act. Unlike the weaker bill (SITA) that Hinson later co-sponsored, that legislation would have enacted a sweeping ban on both stock trading and ownership for members of Congress, their spouses, and their dependent children — a restriction that would have forced Hinson to choose between her family’s private equity portfolio and her campaign-trail promises.
- Hinson’s campaign did not respond to a request to comment for this story.
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