Crypto-focused super PACs spent more than $176 million across over 100 races in the 2026 US midterms, but their highest-profile campaign ended in defeat, according to NBC figures.
Ohio Senate Race
Democrat Sherrod Brown defeated Republican Jon Husted in Ohio’s Senate contest, despite more than $64 million spent by crypto groups to prevent that outcome. With 97.3% of the vote counted, Brown received 2.24 million votes, or about 49.7%, while Husted received 2.06 million, or 45.5%.
Fairshake, the industry’s flagship super PAC, accounted for $56.5 million of the spending, while the Digital Freedom Fund, supported by Gemini co-founders the Winklevoss twins, contributed another $7.5 million.
Brown frequently criticized the crypto sector during his time as chair of the Senate Banking Committee, but during the campaign he appeared to soften his stance, telling the New York Times that crypto “has a part, a role, in our economy.” He still pledged to take on what he called the “crypto/data center crowd.”
In 2024, Brown lost his Senate seat to Republican Bernie Moreno after three terms, receiving 2.59 million votes (46.4%) to Moreno’s 2.8 million (50.2%). That race was the biggest single target of crypto money at the time and drew more ad spending than any Senate contest in history, with the digital asset industry backing the Republican candidate with a $40 million war chest.
Researcher Molly White, who has been tracking crypto and AI spending in politics, described the latest result as a “HUGE loss for crypto super PACs.”
Other Races and Broader Picture
There were also losses for other industry-backed candidates in Texas, Alabama, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan. In Colorado’s 8th District, Democrat Manny Rutinel, who had support from groups including Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s You Can Push Back PAC, defeated incumbent Gabe Evans by a sizable margin.
Crypto groups did win in Nebraska, where Republican Pete Ricketts defeated independent Dan Osborn. Fairshake, funded mainly by Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz, and Ripple, spent about $14.1 million to back Ricketts, a supporter of industry-friendly crypto legislation on the Senate Banking Committee.
Despite these mixed results, the broader political landscape has become less favorable to the industry, with Democrats securing control of the House and Senate. Estimates at the time of writing projected the party to capture 258 House seats and at least 54 Senate seats, having flipped 29 and 7 seats in the respective chambers.
Before the results, CryptosRus had warned that a Democratic victory could further delay the CLARITY Act, which Democrats had blocked in September.
