Crypto PACs face a new congressional map after $176M midterms

Reuters reported that crypto super political action committees (PACs) spent about $176 million across 100 seats in the 2026 midterm cycle, including primaries. Democrats won control of both chambers, and Sherrod Brown defeated Republican Jon Husted in Ohio, the industry’s biggest electoral loss of the 2026 midterms.

Fairshake and its affiliated PACs accounted for $154.5 million across 89 races, while industry spending rose from more than $130 million in 2024. Fairshake has more than $67 million left for the 2028 elections.

“The next Congress will bring a fundamentally different environment for crypto in Washington, and the industry should expect significantly more scrutiny,” Kyle Blingen, executive director at the Decentralization Research Center, told Cointelegraph.

“Newly elected and current members will have a choice: protect consumers and American jobs or fight progress,” Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter told Cointelegraph in an email. “We will be watching and ‘28 is a new map.”

What did the Ohio result change?

Ohio was the industry’s biggest 2026 bet: crypto PACs put more than $64 million into keeping Husted in office. Brown won the special election to complete former Sen. JD Vance’s term, which ends in January 2029, and could seek a senior role on the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Brown’s return came two years after the industry’s biggest 2024 win, when crypto money helped drive him out. Fairshake spent $40 million to help Bernie Moreno unseat Brown in Ohio’s other Senate seat. Independent expenditures in the 2026 race topped $350 million, and Brown made crypto spending a campaign theme, writing in a campaign message: “I’ll be damned if crypto billionaires decide this race.”

Gemini exchange co-founder Cameron Winklevoss wrote on X: “This is what happens when you mess with the crypto army.” Before the vote, an unnamed Republican crypto lobbyist told Politico that a Brown win would “neuter Fairshake’s perceived Sword of Damocles.” Brown’s victory may weaken the perception that defying crypto PACs carries an electoral cost in Washington.

Where did the spending deliver wins?

Nebraska supplied a significant win: Sen. Pete Ricketts retained his seat after Fairshake affiliate Defend American Jobs spent $13.5 million against independent challenger Dan Osborn.

“As the biggest spender in the Nebraska Senate race, we’re proud to have helped Sen. Ricketts weather the waves of a hard-fought cycle,” Vetter wrote. “Fairshake played a meaningful role in winning competitive races across the country in 2026 and we will do it again in 2028.”

The PAC’s other Senate wins came in Republican strongholds, including Barry Moore in Alabama and Andy Barr in Kentucky.

Other spending failed to deliver the intended results in primaries and November. The Fairshake network’s roughly $10 million against Juliana Stratton in the Illinois Democratic primary failed to block her nomination, and she later won the Senate seat.

In Massachusetts, John Deaton lost despite roughly $700,000 in spending by crypto-backed Commonwealth Unity Fund to help elect him. Ken Paxton, who received crypto PAC backing in his successful Texas Republican runoff against John Cornyn, later lost to James Talarico.

In the House, digital assets subcommittee chair Bryan Steil lost to Democrat Mitchell Berman despite $1.9 million in crypto PAC funding.

What lies ahead for crypto policy?

The congressional shift could slow crypto legislation, although BitGo CEO and co-founder Mike Belshe said the election results would not alter the industry’s trajectory. “Crypto has continued to move forward under different administrations and different political majorities. The GENIUS Act is now law, stablecoin rules are moving ahead, and regulators are continuing to work on tokenization and digital asset markets,” Belshe said.

Stand With Crypto counted 19 winning Senate candidates as pro-crypto and eight as anti-crypto, with 33 of 35 races called as of 9:45 p.m. UTC on Nov. 4. Talarico, despite crypto PAC spending against him in Texas, voted for the Texas Bitcoin reserve as a state lawmaker, and Stand With Crypto rates him strongly supportive.

Democratic control also puts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of crypto’s fiercest critics, in line to chair the Senate Banking Committee. Advocates’ next task is building relationships with incoming lawmakers. Fireblocks U.S. policy director Jessica Martinez told Cointelegraph that many of those members had limited records on crypto, making “educating members early” key to shaping the Democratic policy agenda.

With the 2028 election cycle approaching and more than $67 million available, Fairshake’s next map will take shape around congressional oversight, early education of new lawmakers and whether defying crypto PACs still carries an electoral cost.