U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison says she is getting out of the stock-picking game entirely, pledging to sell her individual public and private holdings after months of scrutiny over her trades.
Morrison, a first-term Democrat representing suburbs west of Minneapolis, announced Wednesday that she will no longer own individual stocks, casting the move as a bid to sidestep even the hint of a conflict of interest while she works on federal policy. The decision follows a flurry of private investments she made after arriving in Washington in January 2025, a pattern that watchdogs and voters questioned as the disclosures piled up.
In a statement to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Morrison said, “That is why I am divesting from all public and private companies and will no longer own individual stock.” Reporting by the paper found she executed 106 trades during her 16 months in Washington, with investments in private companies running into the high six figures. According to that coverage, she did not agree to a sit-down interview about the activity.
Portfolio size and disclosure records
Data firm Quiver Quantitative estimates Morrison’s private net worth at about $41 million, and analysts say her trading pace is unusually brisk for a freshman member of Congress. The Clerk of the House disclosure portal includes periodic transaction reports that show many of the same buys and sells. For example, a Clerk of the House filing dated May 13, 2025, lists multiple trades where the notification date trails the actual transaction date. Those original reports are the core documents reporters and watchdogs rely on to piece together her activity.
Which holdings drew attention
Journalists zeroed in on several private-market bets, including investments tied to defense, space and artificial intelligence, that critics say create the appearance of conflicts. Coverage in the Minnesota Star Tribune highlighted a small stake in Saronic Technologies, a defense-tech company that works on autonomous surface vessels, as well as positions in Varda Space Industries, Starcloud and Advanced Machine Intelligence. Ethics experts told the paper that even when such trades follow the rules, they can chip away at public trust in lawmakers who help write the policies affecting those very sectors.
What watchdogs and lawyers say
Good-government groups and legal specialists describe the Morrison situation as a textbook example of why clearer rules are needed, regardless of whether any specific law was broken. The Project On Government Oversight has urged Congress to support a broad ban on lawmakers trading individual stocks, arguing that stronger restrictions are necessary to rebuild public confidence, as outlined by POGO. The Campaign Legal Center has similarly called for tougher enforcement and backed the bipartisan Restore Trust in Congress Act as a way to address the kind of reporting lapses that helped focus attention on Morrison’s portfolio in the first place.
What’s next
Morrison says she will sell off her individual holdings, although she has not publicly committed to a specific timeline for completing the divestment. On Capitol Hill, several proposals would require members of Congress and their families to divest or place assets in blind trusts. One of the most prominent, the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act, is currently pending on Congress.gov, placing Morrison’s move against a backdrop of wider reform efforts.
As journalists keep picking through financial disclosures and lawmakers keep arguing over stricter rules, the speed and structure of Morrison’s selloff will determine whether this big shift in her personal finances is enough to quiet her critics.
