Political action committees (PACs) affiliated with Fairshake, a cryptocurrency-backed company, said they spent millions of dollars supporting candidates in five races, less than six months before American voters choose their congressional representatives.
According to documents filed this week with the Federal Election Commission, the Protect Progress PAC reported about $1.6 million in combined spending for Jasmine Clark and Christian Menefee, Democrats running to represent Georgia’s 13th Congressional District and Texas’ 18th District, respectively.
The reported media buys took place before Clark faces a May 19 Democratic primary and Menefee faces a May 26 runoff against Rep. Al Green, who is seeking a 12th term. Protecting progress claimed that Green was “actively hostile to Texas’ growing crypto community,” pledging to spend $1.5 million to oppose his re-election to Congress.
Protect Progress, a Fairshake affiliate, generally focuses on Democratic candidates, while another affiliate, Defend American Jobs, supports Republicans. Likewise, the PAC Defends American Jobs reported spending $5.6 million on candidates in Georgia’s 1st and 14th districts, Nebraska’s 3rd district, and U.S. Senate races in Alabama and Kentucky. All four US states are expected to hold primaries in May.
Related: Americans wary of crypto, AI as industry super PACs flood midterm elections, poll finds
Among Defend American Jobs’ spending, Andy Barr, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky and currently representing the state’s 6th District House of Representatives, has received the most support, with more than $3.5 million in media coverage. Barr has made numerous public statements in support of pro-crypto policies in Congress and has voted in favor of legislation including the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act.
Source: Andy Barr
Fairshake, who reported holding $193 million in January, has already spent millions of dollars trying to influence voters through the media in the 2026 primaries. The American Jobs PAC spent approximately $514,000 on advertising supporting the re-election of Republican James Baird in Indiana, and poured millions into the media for the Texas and Illinois races this year.
Crypto Market Structure Bill Could Impact Candidates’ Midterm Chances
For many crypto-friendly lawmakers and industry leaders, progress on a digital asset market structure bill, called the CLARITY Act, could prove to be a litmus test for the 2026 midterm elections. Fairshake and its affiliates have spent more than $130 million on media to support or oppose candidates in 2024, which could influence voters and change the makeup of the current Congress, which will decide the laws related to cryptography.
“I think it’s extremely important that every member of Congress has a position on crypto, it’s part of their election campaign and their platform, and voters will pay attention to it,” Cody Carbone, CEO of crypto advocacy organization The Digital Chamber, told Cointelegraph.
Last week, U.S. Senate lawmakers announced a stablecoin yield compromise that could allow the CLARITY Act to advance through the Senate Banking Committee, approval of which is needed before a floor vote. As of Thursday, the committee had not anticipated an increase on the bill.
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