Crypto Lobby’s $30 Million Push: Who Do They Want to Keep Out of the Senate?
Fairshake, a political spending group backed by the crypto industry, has pledged to spend $30 million to prevent former U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown from returning to the Senate. Brown’s approach to crypto regulation is one of the main reasons the industry is closely watching this race.
Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter confirmed the budget for the Ohio race on Monday in an interview with CoinDesk. The group, whose major backers include Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and a16z, will campaign against Brown ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
CoinDesk describes this pledge as the largest crypto industry expenditure announced against a single candidate during this midterm election cycle. It is not an all-time record: Fairshake set aside approximately $40 million two years ago to defeat Brown once again.
Why doesn’t the crypto industry want Brown to return?
Brown stood out for his critical stance toward the crypto industry during his tenure as chair of the Senate Banking Committee. At the time, efforts to advance comprehensive crypto legislation backed by the industry through the committee failed to produce results.
After Brown lost the election two years ago, crypto-friendly Republican Bernie Moreno took the seat. CoinDesk reports that the committee subsequently advanced a major bill regulating stablecoin issuers, but that the Clarity Act, one of the industry’s priorities, still has not passed Congress.
This time, Brown is running against Republican Senator Jon Husted. A victory could contribute to Democrats’ chances of regaining a majority in the Senate. However, Brown’s return would not automatically mean that he regains his former committee chairmanship; if Democrats secure a majority, current senior-most Democrat Elizabeth Warren is the leading contender for the chair.
Response from the poll and the campaign
According to the poll cited in the report, conducted this month among 1,000 people likely to vote in Ohio, Brown received 48% support and Husted received 45%. These are poll results, not the election outcome or the probability of winning.
Patrick Eisenhauer, Brown’s campaign manager, criticized the money wealthy donors and companies supporting Husted have poured into the race in a statement sent to CoinDesk. The campaign linked this spending to its claim that Husted is susceptible to the influence of major donors.
Fairshake has more than $90 million in resources available for use in the general elections. Although the group supports or opposes both Republican and Democratic candidates, CoinDesk notes that most of its high-dollar spending this year has gone toward supporting Republicans or opposing Democrats.
This money is not transferred directly to candidates’ campaign accounts. Independent political spending groups such as Fairshake purchase advertisements outside candidates’ official campaigns; the advertisements supported by the group do not always have to address crypto.