The crypto industry's leading campaign-funding operation, Fairshake, has committed $30 million to defeating Sherrod Brown's Ohio campaign to return to the Senate. That massive spending is an echo of the $40 million the same political action committee devoted to defeating Brown two years ago — an effort that helped remove a U.S. Senate roadblock for the sector.
The current Republican majority in the Senate has been productive for crypto advocates despite the recent failed vote for a key bill, and a Brown win this year could help shift the needle toward the Democrats' narrow chance to get the majority back. Plus, Brown's critical view of the crypto sector had been a thorn in the side of the businesses that backed Fairshake and its affiliates — mainly Coinbase, Ripple Labs and a16z.
The digital assets industry had spent years unsuccessfully trying to get U.S. market structure legislation — or any other meaningful crypto bill — through the Senate Banking Committee that Brown led. Once the super PAC's spending helped unseat the Ohio Democrat two years ago and replace him with pro-crypto Senator Bernie Moreno, the committee dealt successfully with a major bill to regulate stablecoin issuers and nearly reached the finish line on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
But a potential Brown return wouldn't necessarily mean he'd come back to the role he once occupied, because Senator Elizabeth Warren is the current top Democrat on the banking panel and is widely expected to be first in line for the gavel if her party takes back the Senate.
Still, Fairshake has decided his defeat is worth $30 million, PAC spokesman Geoff Vetter confirmed on Monday.
That makes the largest — by far — industry spend against a single candidate in these midterm elections, as the weeks wind down toward the November 3 election day. Vetter said Fairshake would have more announcements to make in the coming days on its strategy during this final stretch. Fairshake still has more than $90 million on-hand that it can use in the general, Vetter confirmed.