Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper purchased six-figure amounts of Uber stock last month — notable because he sits on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which has jurisdiction over the rideshare industry.
Hickenlooper’s purchase of Uber stock, documented in a new congressional financial disclosure reviewed by NOTUS, raises the possibility of a conflict of interest at a time when the committee is actively considering matters that could affect Uber’s business prospects. Last week, for example, the committee conducted a hearing on autonomous vehicles, in which Uber has a major financial interest.
Speaking with NOTUS at the U.S. Capitol, Hickenlooper said he didn’t personally direct the Jan. 14 purchase of his Uber stock, which he valued at between $100,001 and $250,000.
Hickenlooper, who represents Colorado, says his stock portfolio has been managed without his involvement since 2003, when he served as mayor of Denver. He said he learned of his Uber stock purchase when he filed federally mandated disclosures about what individual stocks he’s buying and selling.
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Hickenlooper described his stock portfolio as existing within a “blind trust.” But Senate records indicate Hickenlooper has not created what’s known as a “qualified blind trust” — a kind of trust that’s formally approved by the Senate Select Committee on Ethics and designed to “mitigate potential conflicts of interest” by lawmakers.
In the Senate, qualified blind trusts must be led by an independent trustee approved by the Senate Ethics Committee, and they must notify the committee about the trust’s performance and any divestitures.
The qualified blind trust trustee is “responsible for all investment decisions on behalf of the grantor and manages the assets without the grantor’s knowledge or direction,” according to Senate guidance. “Conflicts of interest are resolved because the Member … does not have any knowledge of the assets and no longer controls or manages their assets.”
Qualified blind trust or not, senators must still “guard against the appearance of a conflict of interest between the Member’s financial interests and the Member’s legislative action on the committee,” guidance from the Senate committee states.
Asked why he hadn’t sought the Senate Ethics Committee’s approval to create a qualified blind trust, Hickenlooper said he didn’t have full details about what a qualified blind trust entails.
“I’ve been trying to get someone to tell me, what does it mean to be congressionally approved,” Hickenlooper told NOTUS. “Hopefully this week, we’re gonna sit down and they can explain to me why, whether it is or whether it’s not.”
“Now, if there’s some additional way that that can be more secure, I’m happy to do it,” Hickenlooper said of his trust becoming congressionally approved. “I’m going to guess I’m already compliant. If I’m not compliant, as soon as I find that out, I will change to become one.”
Hickenlooper has co-sponsored legislation to ban members of Congress from individually trading stock, and to require certain assets be placed in blind trusts.
The House and Senate are actively considering several bills that would bar lawmakers from buying and selling stock because of ongoing concerns about conflicts of interest, the potential for insider trading and repeated disclosure-related violations of the existing Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act.
Hickenlooper is not the only lawmaker whose stock purchases overlap with committee work; CNN found 10 senators doing so in 2025, seven Republicans and three Democrats, including Hickenlooper.
NOTUS has identified several other members of Congress, including Reps. Cleo Fields of Louisiana and Byron Donalds of Florida, whose personal investments appear to conflict with their public service.
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