Fairshake Affiliate PACs Drop $1.5M on Three State Races Hours After Michigan Primary Loss 🗳️

Two political action committees affiliated with the cryptocurrency industry-backed Fairshake disclosed spending more than $1.5 million on media to back House and Senate candidates in Florida, Alaska and Wyoming, according to Federal Election Commission filings as of Thursday. The expenditures came one day after Protect Progress, one of the Fairshake affiliates, suffered a primary defeat in Michigan when Democratic incumbent Shri Thanedar lost to State Representative Donavan McKinney in the state's 13th Congressional District despite more than $2 million in supporting media spending.

In Alaska's at-large congressional district, which holds a primary on Aug. 18, Defend American Jobs reported spending more than $500,000 on media supporting the re-election of Representative Nick Begich. The Super PAC directed a comparable amount toward Republican candidate Sydney Gruters in Florida's 16th district and toward Representative Harriet Hageman, who is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Cynthia Lummis in Wyoming. Florida and Wyoming also hold primaries on Aug. 18.

Protect Progress separately reported spending more than $50,000 on media supporting the re-election of Democratic Representative Lois Frankel in Florida's 23rd district. Begich, Hageman and Frankel each voted in favor of both the GENIUS Act and the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act while serving in Congress. Gruters did not appear to have made any public statements on crypto or blockchain, with the exception of indicating support for the crypto market structure bill in a questionnaire conducted by the advocacy organization Stand With Crypto.

The activity follows Fairshake's reported spending of more than $170 million on House and Senate races during the 2024 US election cycle, a figure that influenced the composition of the current Congress. All 435 House seats are up for election in 2026 alongside 33 Senate seats, and Stand With Crypto said in January that its "primary goal" in 2026 was securing passage of crypto market structure legislation. The Senate had not confirmed by Thursday whether it would vote on the CLARITY Act before breaking for a month-long recess, according to reporting cited by the source material.

Thanedar's current term in Congress will end in January 2027. US Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott previously said the chamber would vote on the CLARITY crypto bill "without any question" this week, according to related reporting.