After supporting two losing candidates in Arizona primaries on July 30, the crypto-backed Fairshake PAC and its affiliates could win up to four new congressional races.
Three primary races in Missouri and Michigan have already been called by news outlets, possibly influenced by funds from the Fairshake Super political action committee (PAC) or its affiliates, with a fourth in Washington also looking certain to win.
On August 7, media outlets reported that Democrat Wesley Bell had defeated incumbent Cori Bush in the party primary for Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, Bob Onder had secured the Republican nomination for Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District, and Shri Thanedar had won the Democratic primary in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District.
Officials were still tallying votes to determine the winner of the Democratic primary in the 6th Congressional District of Washington at the time of publication.
In an effort to either support pro-crypto candidates for the US House of Representatives or oppose those who had expressed anti-crypto views, Fairshake and its affiliates, the Defend American Jobs PAC and the Protect Progress PAC, collectively donated approximately $4 million to the four primary elections.
Meanwhile, to oppose Bush, $1.4 million was allocated to a media buy, $250,000 to support Onder and $1 million to support Thanedar.
“Cori Bush has now become the latest anti-crypto, Elizabeth Warren-endorsed lawmaker to lose their seat in Congress,” said Fairshake spokesperson Josh Vlasto. “The crypto and blockchain community will continue to support candidates who believe in innovation and job creation.”
As of the time of publication, Emily Randall, the Democrat in Washington’s 6th Congressional District, was dominating the primary race with approximately 62% of the votes counted, thanks to a $1.5 million media buy by Protect Progress.
In the event that she emerges victorious, she may be required to confront Republican Drew MacEwen in the November general election.
On the night of the primary campaign, Franz, a Democrat who was trailing MacEwan and Randall at the time of publication, denounced the support of Super PACs on X.
In July, Eve Zhurbinskiy, her campaign manager, indicated that Protect Progress was a “MAGA-funded Super PAC” that aimed to “buy members of Congress” by influencing elections with money.
“Out-of-state Super PACs spent over $2.4 million to buy this seat,” said Franz on Aug. 6. “In the face of this unprecedented influx of dark money, we knew we faced an uphill climb — but thanks to our volunteers and supporters, this race is too close to call.”
Fairshake Losses in Arizona
The primary in Arizona, where Republican and Democratic candidates supported by Fairshake or its affiliates lost on July 30, preceded the Michigan, Missouri, and Washington races on August 6.
Defend American Jobs and Protect Progress spent $1 million on media buy to assist Republican Blake Masters and Democrat Andrei Cherny in the House primaries, but both lost to opponents from their respective parties.
In Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District, Protect Progress allocated approximately $1.3 million to promote Democrat Yassamin Ansari over her opponent Raquel Terán prior to the primary.
The race will probably result in a recount, as it was too close to call at the time of publication.
Ansari led by less than a hundred votes.
In the 2024 presidential election, crypto interest groups have already contributed funds to major party candidates, including Democratic nominees, Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.
The Winklevoss twins and other industry leaders have pledged to vote for Trump.
However, Harris has garnered the backing of numerous individuals who believe that the presidential candidate has the chance to disassociate herself from crypto policy under the Biden administration.
