{"id":126184,"date":"2025-03-31T21:16:13","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T21:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/?p=126184"},"modified":"2025-03-31T21:16:13","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T21:16:13","slug":"crypto-pac-supported-candidates-make-a-final-push-to-florida-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/?p=126184","title":{"rendered":"Crypto PAC-supported candidates make a final push to Florida voters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: Cointelegraph.com NewsTwo Republican candidates supported by at least a combined $1.5 million in media spending from a cryptocurrency-backed political action committee (PAC) are making final pleas to voters turning out for special elections in Florida congressional districts.
\nOn April 1, voters in Florida\u2019s 1st and 6th congressional districts will head to the polls to decide whether to keep Republican representatives or hand over control to Democrats for the first time in roughly 30 years. The Defend American Jobs PAC \u2014 an affiliate of Fairshake, which poured more than $131 million in the 2024 US election cycle \u2014 has spent a combined $1.5 million on media for Republicans Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine, running against Democrats Gay Valimont and Josh Weil, respectively.
\nSource: Gay Valimont for CongressThough the Florida congressional districts have historically favored Republican candidates, Democrats Valimont and Weil both raised significantly more than Patronis and Fine as of March \u2014 a reported roughly $6.5 million and $10 million against the Republicans\u2019 $1 million and $1 million, respectively. These amounts do not reflect the media buys from PACs like Defend American Jobs or Tesla CEO Elon Musk\u2019s America PAC, which spent more than $20,000 for texting services in the two congressional elections.
\nAs of March 31, there were four vacancies for seats in the US House of Representatives following two Democratic lawmakers passing away and two Republicans resigning in anticipation of positions with the Trump administration. If Democrats were to keep their existing two seats and flip the two in Florida, Republicans\u2019 majority in the chamber would narrow to 217 to 218 \u2014 not changing majority control, but likely influencing how the House would consider legislation and policy.
\nAmong the crypto-related legislation being considered in Congress included a market structure bill and stablecoin regulation. Some lawmakers have suggested that they intended to get both bills passed before Congress goes on recess in August.
\nRelated: Florida bill proposes strict rules against online gambling
\nMichigan Representative Shri Thanedar, a Democrat who described himself as largely self-funded and may have benefitted from crypto-backed PAC money in his 2024 race, spoke to Cointelegraph on March 27 about the role the industry could have on future elections.
\nProtect Progress \u2014 another Fairshake-affiliated PAC \u2014 spent more than $1 million on a media buy to support the Michigan representative in his August 2024 primary.\u00a0He defeated Republican Martell Bivings in November with 68% of the vote.
\n\u201cI was surprised to see those ads,\u201d Rep. Thanedar told Cointelegraph, referring to Protect Progress\u2019 media outreach. \u201cI was not aware that such an ad would be appearing in support of my campaign.\u201d
\nThe Michigan lawmaker added:
\n\u201cCrypto is not unique to this. There are multiple industries […] that have PACs and Super PACs and independent expenditures. All of that money, the dark money in our politics, has to go. As long as we have the dark money in politics, that is going to impact our politicians.\u201d\u00a0
\nLooking to the 2026 midterms
\nAfter many Democratic and Republican candidates espousing \u201cpro-crypto\u201d views won in the 2024 elections, Fairshake spokesperson Josh Vlasto said the PAC was \u201ckeeping [its] foot on the gas\u201d in the future. Major firms like Coinbase and Ripple Labs have contributed tens of millions of dollars to the PAC.
\nAs of January, Fairshake reported holding more than $116 million to spend on candidates in 2025 and 2026. Vlasto declined to comment on the April 1 special elections but said after the January primaries, the PAC was \u201cproud to support [Patronis and Fine] with TV ad campaigns.\u201d\u00a0
\nMagazine: Trump\u2019s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questionsRead More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: Cointelegraph.com NewsTwo Republican candidates supported by at least a combined $1.5 million in media spending from a cryptocurrency-backed political action committee (PAC) are making final pleas to voters turning… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126184"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=126184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=126184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=126184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=126184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}