Crypto industry campaign finance giant Fairshake Political Action Committee backed winners in half a dozen southern primaries on Tuesday, pouring millions of dollars into the races as one of the congressional midterm elections’ top spenders.
The super PAC poured more than $20 million into political advertising in three states, mostly for Republican candidates seen as winning their deep-red regions in the November general election. So far this year, Fairshake — which in previous election cycles has helped get dozens of pro-crypto candidates to Washington — has backed a long list of primary winners, though it experienced some setbacks, particularly in the Illinois race, where it spent more than $10 million trying to defeat Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton on her way to her Democratic primary in March.
Fairshake contributed more than $7 million each in Tuesday’s Senate primaries in Alabama and Kentucky. It endorsed Republican U.S. Representative Andy Barr of Kentucky to replace longtime Senate powerhouse Mitch McConnell, and Barr won the primary with more than 60% of the vote. In Alabama, the $7.4 million spent by Fairshake hasn’t quite reached a resolution yet because Representative Barry Moore didn’t make it past the 50% mark despite leading his closest competitor by more than 13 percentage points, so the crypto-backed candidate will face an exit.” Vetter, a spokesperson for Fairshake, in a statement. “This powerful bipartisan mandate is being heard across America from Georgia to Alabama to Kentucky.”
In Georgia, the PAC focused on four seats in the US House of Representatives, including a Democratic primary in the district left vacant by the death of longtime Democratic Representative David Scott. In the district, Fairshake endorsed Jasmine Clark, a Democratic state lawmaker who dominated a crowded field in this week’s primary election after racking up $4.2 million in crypto ad spending.
Such spending far exceeded organic campaign fundraising in that race, with the crypto funds totaling more than was raised by all 10 Democratic candidates and far more than Clark’s own $1.2 million brought in by her campaign directly.
Clark’s campaign had included a statement of support for crypto-technology, as has often been the case with candidates Fairshake shelled out his millions.
“We need to assert ourselves as leaders in emerging technologies — whether it’s AI, blockchain or cryptocurrencies — by working with experts to create a smart, clear regulatory framework to help the industry grow and protect consumers from bad actors,” Clark’s campaign website declared.
Across Georgia, Fairshake also poured less money into the Republican primaries, endorsing candidates Jim Kingston (who won with 52%), Houston Gaines (who won with 67%) and incumbent Rep. Clay Fuller (who had previously won a special election in April to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene and won this week with 81%).
Super PACs buy their ads without consulting the campaigns they support, and Fairshake’s strategy has been to run ads designed to support or oppose candidates on the policy issues the committee sees as most effective — almost never mentioning the issue of cryptocurrency.
