Crypto super PACs spent roughly $176 million across 100 seats in the 2026 midterms, but their biggest bet failed as Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress, according to Reuters. The industry’s largest electoral loss came in Ohio, where former Sen. Sherrod Brown defeated Republican Jon Husted in a special election despite more than $64 million in crypto PAC spending.
Brown’s victory came two years after crypto money helped drive him out of the Senate in 2024, when Fairshake spent $40 million to help Bernie Moreno win Ohio’s other Senate seat. This year, Brown turned the crypto spending into a campaign theme, writing “I’ll be damned if crypto billionaires decide this race,” in a campaign message.
Fairshake remains funded for 2028
Fairshake and its affiliated PACs accounted for $154.5 million across 89 races, up from more than $130 million in 2024. The network is left with more than $67 million heading into the 2028 elections.
“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.”
The Democratic sweep also puts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of crypto’s fiercest critics, in line to chair the Senate Banking Committee. Kyle Bligen, executive director at the Decentralization Research Center, told Cointelegraph that “the next Congress will bring a fundamentally different environment for crypto in Washington, and the industry should expect significantly more scrutiny.”
Mixed results beyond Ohio
Nebraska offered crypto PACs a significant win, with Sen. Pete Ricketts retaining his seat after Fairshake affiliate Defend American Jobs spent $13.5 million opposing 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. 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 Fairshake network’s roughly $10 million spent opposing Juliana Stratton in the Illinois Democratic primary failed to block her nomination; she later won the Senate seat. In Massachusetts, John Deaton lost despite roughly $700,000 in spending by crypto-backed Commonwealth Unity Fund. Ken Paxton, who received crypto PAC backing in his successful Texas Republican runoff against John Cornyn, went on to lose 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.
Before the vote, a Republican crypto lobbyist told Politico that a Brown win would “neuter Fairshake’s perceived Sword of Damocles.”
Industry outlook
The shift in congressional control could slow crypto legislation, but 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.”
Democratic victories could also bring crypto supporters into the Senate. Advocacy group Stand With Crypto counted 19 winning Senate candidates it classified as pro-crypto and eight as anti-crypto, with 33 of the 35 Senate races called as of 9:45 p.m. UTC on Nov. 4. Despite crypto PAC spending against him in Texas, Talarico voted for the Texas Bitcoin reserve as a state lawmaker and is rated by the group as strongly supportive of crypto.
For industry advocates, the next challenge is building relationships with incoming lawmakers. Jessica Martinez, US policy director at Fireblocks, told Cointelegraph that many newly elected members had limited records on crypto, making “educating members early” key to shaping the Democratic policy agenda.
