Moulton and Torres Introduce Legislation to Ban Campaign Insiders From Trading on Political Prediction Markets

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressmen Seth Moulton (MA-06) and Ritchie Torres (NY-15) introduced the Campaign Event Contract Integrity Act, legislation that would close a loophole that allows campaign insiders to profit off confidential information in political prediction markets. 

The bill builds on Congressman Moulton’s record as the first Member of Congress to institute an office-wide policy prohibiting staff from participating in prediction market platforms. That ban, announced in March, covered congressional staff trading or holding positions on political, legislative, regulatory, and geopolitical outcomes, or any information learned in an official capacity. 

The Campaign Event Contract Integrity Act takes this commitment a step further, extending integrity standards to political campaigns. Under current law, nothing clearly prohibits a campaign staffer, strategist, or consultant from trading on political prediction markets using internal polling data, unreleased fundraising numbers, or candidate announcement plans that are not publicly available. 

The legislation would prohibit campaign-affiliated individuals—including staff, consultants, pollsters, data analysts, media consultants, and fundraisers—from trading political event contracts while in possession of material nonpublic campaign information. It also bans providing that information to third parties and bans the use of proxies to evade the law. 

“Elected officials and the campaigns they run should be motivated by service to their country and their community, not by personal profit,” said Congressman Moulton. “Unfortunately, this legislation remains necessary because our politics are under threat from special interests and political insiders who seek to boost their bottom line at the expense of the American people. I’m proud that my teams have banned self-participation in prediction markets already, and hope many more of my colleagues in Congress will follow suit soon.”

“A campaign pollster sitting on internal numbers that could massively move a prediction market is no different from a corporate insider trading on earnings reports before they go public,” said Congressman Torres. “The law has always recognized that kind of advantage as a form of theft from everyone else, and it is time we applied that same standard to campaign operatives.”

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