Crypto’s campaign efforts see rare loss, but crypto roster in Congress likely to grow

The latest U.S. congressional primary elections this week saw another unusual setback for the crypto industry’s largest campaign fund when incumbent Representative Shri Thanedar got shut down by progressive challenger Donavan McKinney for a Democratic nomination in Detroit.

It cost the Fairshake political action committee more than $2 million, and the industry loses an incumbent ally in the House of Representatives who co-sponsored its version of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act and had also been active in other crypto legislation. His democratic socialist opponent is a blank slate on crypto issues, but he drew endorsements from Senator Bernie Sanders and progressive Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who also won his primary.

The super PAC’s spending on Thanedar represented its biggest financial commitment among the primaries in Michigan and Washington conducted on Tuesday. However, the spending from Fairshake and its affiliates prevailed in five other primaries, mostly backing incumbents: Bill Huizenga in Michigan (a Republican who was also a Clarity co-sponsor) and Democrats Suzan Delbene, Kim Schrier and Marilyn Strickland in Washington. Plus, the industry backed Amanda McKinney, a pro-crypto Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump, in a Washington GOP race.

Fairshake has been building and maintaining a cohort of crypto supporters in Congress, already adding a number of news names in primary victories over past months in races in which the PAC’s favored candidate is expected to win in the November elections. While the vast majority of candidates the PAC and its affiliates supported have won their primaries, the effort saw a significant setback in Illinois, where Fairshake spent more than $10 million trying to defeat Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton in her Senate bid.

Every member of next year’s Senate could be vital, depending especially on whether the industry’s chief policy aim — the Clarity Act — prevails in its last-second drive for a Senate vote this week. Even if Clarity is resolved this year, the crypto sector is hoping for a number of other legislative answers to user needs, including crypto tax rules.