Crypto PACs Spend Over $1.5 Million in U.S. State Elections

Odaily Planet Daily reports that Defend American Jobs and Protect Progress, political action committees associated with the cryptocurrency company Fairshake, have collectively spent over $1.5 million in support of House and Senate candidates in Florida, Alaska, and Wyoming ahead of the August 18 primary elections. Federal Election Commission filings show that Defend American Jobs has spent over $500,000 in Alaska’s at-large congressional district to support Representative Nick Begich’s re-election; the Super PAC has also contributed comparable amounts to Republican candidate Sydney Gruters in Florida’s 16th district and to Harriet Hageman, a candidate for Wyoming’s Senate seat. Protect Progress disclosed spending over $50,000 in Florida’s 23rd district to support Lois Frankel’s re-election. Frankel, Begich, and Hageman all voted in favor of the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act during their time in Congress. These expenditures follow the defeat of a Protect Progress-backed candidate in Michigan’s 13th congressional district, where the Super PAC had previously invested over $2 million in support of incumbent Democratic Representative Shri Thanedar, who lost the primary to state Representative Donavan McKinney.