Key Takeaways:
Crypto industry-aligned political action committees swept 11 primary races across three states Tuesday, extending a winning streak built on $3.5 million in media buys and a strategy increasingly focused on Democratic allies.
Fairshake and its affiliated super PACs — Protect Progress and Defend American Jobs — backed candidates in California, New Jersey and South Dakota, with all 11 advancing or winning their races, according to election results published by state authorities. The roster included nine Democratic House candidates in California, one in New Jersey and Republican Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota.
"America needs members of Congress who will act to lay out responsible guardrails for the community to maintain our global leadership," Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter said.
The victories spanned California's 12th, 36th, 45th, 47th, 49th and 51st congressional districts, among others. Winners included Democrats Zoe Lofgren, Ted Lieu, Dave Min, Lou Correa, George Whitesides, Jacqui Irwin, Mike McGuire, Hilda Solis and Lateefah Simon, along with New Jersey Democrat Rob Menendez. Fairshake spent a maximum of $476,000 on independent ads for Whitesides, with total outlays across the three states reaching approximately $3.5 million, per Federal Election Commission filings.
The results come one week after crypto-backed groups spent more than $9 million in Texas, where Democrat Christian Menefee defeated incumbent Representative Al Green — a longtime crypto critic with an F rating from Stand With Crypto — in a race where Fairshake alone deployed $6.5 million. Fairshake reported a $193 million war chest as of January, making it one of the largest super PACs in US politics.
Maryland emerges as next battleground
Protect Progress has already spent more than $3.1 million supporting Democratic candidate Adrian Boafo in Maryland's 5th Congressional District, where the primary is scheduled for June 23, according to FEC filings. The spending signals the industry intends to maintain its electoral momentum through the midterm cycle.
With Polymarket bettors divided on which party will control Congress after November, crypto groups have pursued a bipartisan strategy to preserve influence regardless of the outcome. Democrats accounted for 10 of the 11 victories in Tuesday's primaries, a shift from earlier cycles where the industry's political spending tilted more heavily toward Republicans.
New developer-focused PAC enters the field
A separate political action committee called Defend Developers registered with the FEC last month as a hybrid PAC, allowing both direct contributions to candidates and unlimited independent spending. Founder Gavin Zavatone, also policy lead at the DeFi Education Fund, said the group plans to raise and contribute "more than six figures across dozens of key races."
The PAC's board includes representatives from Uniswap Labs, the Solana Policy Institute and Orca Creative. Defend Developers will focus on incumbent lawmakers who support legal protections for crypto developers and decentralized finance projects, rather than the broader candidate slate backed by Fairshake.
The general election in November carries high stakes for the industry, with the potential to shift party control in at least one chamber of Congress and determine the fate of pending legislation including the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
