Update (Aug. 19, 2:46 pm UTC): This article has been updated to clarify that California held House runoffs on Aug. 18.

An affiliate of the political action committee (PAC) Fairshake, which is funded primarily by Coinbase and Ripple Labs, has poured more than $2 million into advertising against a Democratic congressional candidate who did not appear to have taken any prominent position on digital assets before the ads were released.

According to records with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as of Tuesday, the Protect Progress PAC had spent more than $2 million on ads opposing Democratic candidate Oliver Gilbert in Florida's 24th congressional district. The spending comes as crypto-focused PACs continue to use primary contests to shape the field before the general election, even in races where digital asset policy has not been a central campaign issue. Notably, no candidate in the Democratic primary appeared to have taken a strong position on digital assets as part of their campaigns before the PAC's involvement.

Gilbert is running for the seat currently occupied by Representative Frederica Wilson, who endorsed him at a June 22 event. During her tenure in Congress, Wilson voted against both the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act and the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.

Shevrin Jones, a Florida state senator and Democratic candidate who was ahead of Gilbert in an early August poll, has completed a questionnaire with Stand With Crypto, earning a "strongly supports" rating from the advocacy organization.

Gilbert reportedly said "[Donald] Trump's tech billionaire buddies" were behind the "crypto con artists trying to buy a Democratic primary" through the ads, which included fake Miami Herald headlines unrelated to digital asset policy. Cointelegraph reached out to Gilbert's campaign for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

"The facts are the facts, and, as the Miami Herald stated, the underlying facts in our ad are true," a Fairshake spokesperson told Cointelegraph. He did not comment on the reason for the PAC's expenditures.

Fairshake reported holding a $193 million war chest as of January, which it has used through affiliates such as Protect Progress and Defend American Jobs to support Democratic and Republican candidates, respectively, in races for the 2026 midterm elections. As of June, the PAC had already poured more than $82 million into primaries and special elections to influence voters through ads.

Primary races to impact party control in 2027

On Tuesday, voters in Alaska, Florida and Wyoming will decide on congressional candidates to face off in the general election in November.

The Protect Progress PAC has also spent more than $150,000 on media supporting the re-election of Lois Frankel in Florida's 23rd district. Defend American Jobs reported a combined $1.5 million on ads in favor of Representative Nick Begich in Alaska's at-large congressional district, Republican candidate Sydney Gruters in Florida's 16th district, and Representative Harriet Hageman for one of the US Senate seats representing Wyoming.

The 2026 primary races will help determine whether Democrats retake control of the US House of Representatives and Senate starting with the next session of Congress in January, or whether Republicans remain the majority. Both chambers are on recess until September, when the Senate is expected to hold a vote on the CLARITY Act.