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Following Primary Loss, Crypto PACs Invest $1.5M in 3 US State Races

The Coinbase- and Ripple-backed PAC Fairshake and its affiliates spent millions of dollars on media to support politicians in US states scheduled to hold primaries in two weeks.

YayaNewsFinancial news writer2026-08-07 05:51Updated: 2026-08-07 05:512 ViewsSource CoinTelegraph

YayaNews contributes financial news and market context through the YayaNews editorial workflow.

The Coinbase- and Ripple-backed PAC Fairshake and its affiliates spent millions of dollars on media to support politicians in US states scheduled to hold primaries in two weeks.

Following Primary Loss, Crypto PACs Invest $1.5M in 3 US State Races

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Written by

Turner Wright

staff writer

Reviewed by

Sam Bourgi

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Written by

Turner Wright

staff writer

Reviewed by

Sam Bourgi

staff writer

Following primary loss, crypto PACs invest $1.5M in 3 US state races

Latest News

Published

Aug 6, 2026

The Defend American Jobs and Protect Progress PACs reported spending more than $1.5 million on media for four House and Senate races ahead of Aug. 18 primary elections.

Two groups affiliated with the cryptocurrency company-backed political action committee (PAC) Fairshake disclosed spending more than $1.5 million on media to support House of Representatives and Senate candidates in Florida, Alaska and Wyoming after suffering a primary loss in Michigan on Tuesday.

According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings as of Thursday, Fairshake PAC affiliates Defend American Jobs and Protect Progress

spent

a combined $1.5 million on ads for Republican and Democratic candidates, many of whom voted in favor of the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act while serving in Congress.

In Alaska’s at-large congressional district, scheduled to hold a primary on Aug. 18, Defend American Jobs spent more than $500,000 on media supporting the re-election of Representative Nick Begich. The Super PAC spent about the same amount on Republican candidate Sydney Gruters in Florida’s 16th district, and Representative Harriet Hageman, running for the soon-to-be-vacant Wyoming Senate seat now occupied by Cynthia Lummis. Both US states will also hold primaries on Aug. 18.

The reported expenditures follow a primary loss for a Protect Progress-supported candidate in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District. On Tuesday, Democratic incumbent Shri Thanedar

lost a primary

to State Representative Donavan McKinney after the Super PAC poured more than $2 million into media supporting the former. The final day of Thanedar’s current term in Congress will be in January 2027.

US Senate will vote on CLARITY crypto bill ‘without any question’ this week: Tim Scott

On the Democratic side, Protect Progress reported spending more than $50,000 for the re-election of Lois Frankel in Florida’s 23rd district. Frankel, Begich and Hageman all voted in favor of the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act while serving in Congress, while Gruters did not appear to have made any public statements on crypto or blockchain, with the exception of

saying

she supported the crypto market structure bill in a questionnaire conducted by the advocacy organization Stand With Crypto.

The expenditures were the latest examples of Fairshake and cryptocurrency industry-aligned groups attempting to influence US elections through media. The Super PAC reported spending more than $170 million in the 2024 US election cycle on House and Senate races, potentially changing the makeup of the current Congress.

CLARITY votes to influence 2026 midterms?

While it was still uncertain as of Thursday whether the US Senate would hold a vote on the CLARITY Act before the chamber broke for a month-long recess, how lawmakers cast their ballots could affect whether the crypto industry actively supports or opposes their re-election bids. All 435 House seats are up for grabs in 2026, as are 33 seats in the US Senate.

In January, Stand With Crypto said that its “primary goal” in 2026 was getting crypto market structure legislation through Congress. The organization’s community director, Mason Lynaugh, told Cointelegraph in November that how lawmakers vote on the bill could impact their re-election chances. Stand With Crypto rates political candidates on a scale of “strongly supports crypto” to “strongly against crypto” depending on their voting records and public statements, which may be used by PACs and organizations deciding where to allocate funds.

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