US Senator Cynthia Lummis, who has arguably been the crypto sector’s closest friend in Congress, will not seek a second term, she said in a statement on Friday.
The first-term lawmaker will resign after her six-year term ends in January 2027, leaving a Republican seat open in extremely red Wyoming but also removing a key ally for the digital asset industry. Lummis has been the inaugural chair of the first subcommittee dedicated to crypto issues of the US Banking Committee, where she has pushed crypto-friendly legislation as a top priority.
Even now, she is among the lead negotiators for the crypto market structure bill, which will draw members back to the negotiating table after the holiday break. She will still be there in what could be a final push for the industry’s top legislative goal in 2026.
“Deciding not to run for re-election represents a change of heart for me, but in the difficult, grueling weeks of the fall session, I have come to accept that I do not have six more years in me,” Lummis said in the statement released as the chamber left Washington for the recess. She likened herself to a sprinter who has run a marathon. “The energy required doesn’t add up,” she said.
Time and time again, Lummis has introduced bills to ease the way toward regulatory acceptance and government embrace of crypto. These have included a broad market structure effort, crypto tax proposals, and legislation to establish government bitcoin storage.
Although the 2026 midterm congressional elections will be a major political battleground, with party majorities in both houses at stake, the last time a Democrat held a Senate seat in Wyoming was in the 1970s. In Lummis’ 2020 campaign, she received nearly 73% of the vote.
“I am honored to have earned the support of President Trump and to have the opportunity to work side by side with him to fight for the people of Wyoming,” Lummis said in his statement. She said she will “throw all my energy into bringing important legislation to his desk in 2026 and maintaining general Republican control of the U.S. Senate.”
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