Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat helping to craft his party's artificial intelligence agenda, has disclosed fresh purchases of AI-linked stocks, only months after voting to bar lawmakers and their families from buying individual shares.
In a filing released this week, Gottheimer reported an Oct. 12 purchase of Benchmark Electronics stock valued between $1,001 and $15,000. His jointly owned Morgan Stanley account also bought as much as $15,000 in Applied Materials shares on Oct. 26, following three earlier purchases of Advanced Micro Devices, a leading AI chipmaker.
There is no evidence of wrongdoing. Even so, the trades place Gottheimer's investments under scrutiny as Democrats prepare to take control of Congress in January, a shift that will hand the party new power to regulate and investigate the AI industry.
Gottheimer, a former Microsoft executive, sits on the House Financial Services subcommittee overseeing AI in finance. He has introduced legislation on AI regulations and co-chairs a commission developing the broader Democratic agenda on artificial intelligence.
His spokesman, Haraden Bottomley, said the congressman surrendered control of his investments to a third party with "full investment discretion" before taking 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.
Democrats are already taking aim at the AI industry. Reps. Maxine Waters and Greg Casar introduced a resolution opposing taxpayer bailouts for AI companies, which was referred in part to Gottheimer's committee. Casar has called for AI executives to testify under oath, and other Democrats are pushing to restrict data centers or stop new construction entirely.
The stock purchases stand in contrast to Gottheimer's long record of supporting limits on congressional trading. In July, he was one of just 13 Democrats to vote for the Stop Insider Trading Act, which would prohibit lawmakers and their families from purchasing most individual stocks. The bill passed the House but has not become law. Some Democrats opposed it because it included a voter-ID provision, while others argued it should have gone further in curbing stock buying and holding by elected officials. Four years earlier, Gottheimer backed legislation requiring lawmakers to place investments in blind trusts and pledged to establish one himself.
The AI trades represent only a small portion of a sprawling portfolio. The five transactions totaled between $5,005 and $75,000, against disclosed household assets of $15.1 million to $59 million, including as much as $44.5 million in stocks. His household has reported more than 1,100 securities transactions over three years, according to Follow the Filings. Gottheimer reports assets jointly with his wife, Marla Tusk, who is general counsel at a political consulting firm.
Advanced Micro Devices competes with Nvidia in AI chips, while Applied Materials supplies semiconductor manufacturing equipment and was Benchmark's largest disclosed customer in 2025, accounting for 14% of revenue, according to a securities filing. Benchmark drew 30% of its third-quarter revenue from semiconductor equipment and another 16% from advanced computing and communications, per its Oct. 28 earnings report. Gottheimer also disclosed an Applied Materials purchase in August and a sale in September.
The purchases came just before a steep selloff in AI stocks. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 5.5% on Thursday, as Nvidia lost more than 9% and AMD shed roughly 17%. Benchmark dropped nearly 17% over Wednesday and Thursday, closing at $59.34, about 25% below its closing price on Gottheimer's October purchase date, before regaining some ground on Friday.
