Crypto-focused political committees are flexing their growing bipartisan muscle in Texas, spending more than $9 million on races this cycle as Tuesday’s primary delivers a string of victories for industry-backed candidates across both parties.
Houston Democrat Christian Menefee defeated fellow Democrat Al Green in the Democratic primary for Texas’ 18th congressional district after Republican-led redistricting unseated Green’s longtime seat and forced the House Financial Services Committee member into a rare showdown with the incumbent.
Green had earned an “F” from crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto after opposing key industry-backed legislation and warning that cryptocurrency could erode America’s financial leverage overseas.
“Rep. Green’s defeat proves that anti-crypto hostility has real electoral consequences,” Geoff Vetter, a Fairshake spokesperson, told CoinDesk. “Fairshake was the difference in this race, and we will continue to aggressively support leaders like Rep. Menefee across the country.”
In the Republican Senate primary, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton toppled longtime Sen. John Cornyn. In other races, Fairshake’s Republican affiliate, Defend American Jobs, and its Democratic counterpart, Protect Progress, backed candidates on opposite sides of the aisle, while the separate crypto-focused Fellowship PAC backed Paxton to the tune of $500,000.
Elsewhere in Texas, Defend American Jobs spent about $1.8 million supporting four winning Republican candidates: Jon Bonck ($348,433), Tom Sell ($426,279), Carlos De La Cruz ($581,172) and Alex Mealer ($436,278). All four were low-vote runoffs, where the eventual candidate is typically heavily favored in November, making them effective targets for a well-capitalized political network.
Texas had just one night of primaries, but Tuesday’s results suggest the crypto industry is already aggressively positioning itself with a well-capitalized war chest for the 2026 midterms, where Democrats are favored — by a small margin — to sweep both the House and Senate.
