By Dave Levinthal
Editor’s note: This story is part of the NOTUS Washington Bureau Initiative, which seeks to help readers in local communities understand what their elected representatives are doing in Congress — and how the actions taken by Congress, the White House and federal agencies are impacting their lives.
As the war with Iran raged throughout early March, the share prices of oil giants Chevron and Marathon Petroleum kept spiking — parallel with the rising commodity price of oil itself.
Rep. Dave Taylor, a Republican from Ohio, spent some of that time selling fossil fuel interests, according to a new congressional financial disclosure.
Taylor sold $4,004 to $60,000 worth of stock among the two oil companies on March 11 and March 12, according to his disclosure.
Catch up: Read our recent coverage on Rep. Dave Taylor emerging as one of the biggest stock traders in Congress.
It’s unclear exactly how much money Taylor earned from the stock sale, as lawmakers are only required to disclose the values of their stock assets and trades in broad ranges. Taylor did indicate he earned more than $200 in capital gains from each of his four separate sales of Chevron and Marathon Petroleum stock, although he did not provide a specific dollar figure, as he’s not required by law to do so.
Both stocks are trading at or near historical highs this month.
The share price of Marathon Petroleum stock increased about 14.4% from Feb. 27, the day before the Iran war started, to March 11, the day Taylor reported selling his shares. The share price of Chevron stock increased about 2.7% from Feb. 27 to March 11, when Taylor reported selling some of his shares. It rose about 5.5% from Feb. 27 to March 12, when he sold more Chevron shares.
Taylor is a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, which in part has jurisdiction over “the safe transportation of energy products and other hazardous materials.”
In a statement to NOTUS, Taylor’s office said that “Congressman Taylor, as a small business owner, utilizes a third party broker to manage funds for his retirement and other basic financial management services. The Congressman and the brokerage firm abide by all rules and regulations related to Congressional trading, including reporting transactions made on his behalf.”
Taylor’s office added: “The Congressman does not advise on or otherwise actively trade in stocks, and is only made aware of such trades after they are executed. As such, any questions regarding the context of a specific reported trade can be directed toward the brokerage firm.”
The freshman lawmaker has also been outspoken in his support of the war with Iran.
“I applaud President Trump for swiftly and decisively taking action that is well within the bounds of his authority as Commander in Chief,” he said in an X post on March 3.
Taylor has quickly become one of Congress’ most active stock traders. He’s made more than 90 trades so far in 2026 alone, according to congressional financial records.
But he’s not alone among federal lawmakers who’ve been trading individual stocks during the initial days of the Iran war.
Earlier this month, Rep. Kelly Morrison, a Democrat from Minnesota, purchased $15,001 to $50,000 worth of stock in Saronic Technologies, a Texas-based defense contractor that manufactures naval drone vessels, NOTUS reported.
Congress is actively considering legislation that would bar federal lawmakers from trading individual stocks, as many Democrats and Republicans have expressed concerns about the potential for insider trading, financial conflicts of interest and rampant disclosure-related violations of an existing congressional stock-trading law known as the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act.
While several bills limiting congressional stock trading have been introduced, a measure backed by Republican leadership dubbed the Stop Insider Trading Act advanced out of a House committee in January and now awaits consideration by the full House.
Taylor’s office noted in its statement that the congressman is an original co-sponsor of the bill “and is looking forward to its passage. In the meantime, Congressman Taylor will continue to abide by all relevant rules and regulations related to participating in financial markets.”
Democrats, who are flogging their own preferred stock-ban bills, have largely panned the GOP bill as too weak, arguing against provisions that would allow lawmakers to retain existing stock holdings and exempt investments such as cryptocurrencies and commodities.
This article has been updated to include comment from Rep. Dave Taylor’s congressional office.