Crypto super PAC Fairshake backed winners in four of five congressional primaries on Tuesday. In Florida’s Miami area, however, a Democrat defeated a campaign that had been targeted by more than $2 million in Fairshake-funded attack ads, underscoring how the group’s spending can shape primaries without guaranteeing an outcome.

Fairshake backs four primaries and loses Florida’s 24th

Fairshake routes its spending through two affiliated PACs: Protect Progress, which supports Democrats, and Defend American Jobs, which supports Republicans. Together, the committees spent about $3.6 million on primaries in Alaska, Florida and Wyoming.

Defend American Jobs spent about $1.5 million to support three Republicans. Two of those candidates won: Sydney Gruters in Florida’s 16th district and Representative Harriet Hageman in the Wyoming Senate race. The third, Nick Begich in Alaska’s at-large district, is expected to advance.

Protect Progress spent more than $150,000 on Democrat Lois Frankel, who won the primary in Florida’s 23rd district. The four winners are likely to face challengers in the general election in November, keeping Fairshake’s backed candidates in the broader election calendar even after the primary results.

Florida’s 24th district was the exception. Protect Progress spent more than $2 million on negative ads and still lost. Oliver Gilbert won the Democratic primary with 34.4% of the vote, defeating Shevrin Jones and Kendrick Meek.

On Aug. 12, Gilbert accused “[Donald] Trump’s tech billionaire buddies” of being behind “crypto con artists trying to buy a Democratic primary.”

The Protect Progress ads used fake Miami Herald headlines that misrepresented Gilbert’s positions. A PAC spokesperson said that “the underlying facts in our ad are true.” Gilbert did not mention crypto or the ad campaign in his Tuesday night victory speech.

A $193 million war chest points toward the CLARITY Act

The network reported a $193 million war chest as of January, largely from Coinbase, Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz. During the 2024 cycle, it spent more than $130 million to support allied candidates and defeat opponents. By June, it had already spent more than $82 million in 2026 races.

Protect Progress spent about $5.5 million in June to help Maryland state delegate Adrian Boafo win the Democratic nomination in that state’s 5th district, part of roughly $11 million in outside spending on his behalf, according to Cryptopolitan’s previous report citing FEC filings.

Federal records show Protect Progress reported $23.6 million in receipts for the 2025-2026 period, almost all of it transferred in from affiliated committees, and $22.7 million in independent expenditures.

Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter said the group is “just getting started building the largest pro-crypto Congress in history.”

Congress is not in session until September, when the Senate is expected to consider a cloture motion on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, a bill intended to establish comprehensive rules for digital assets.

In July 2025, the House passed CLARITY by a bipartisan vote of 294-134. Senate Democrats have since pushed for stronger ethics language tied to the Trump family’s crypto holdings, adding another layer of political scrutiny around the bill as it moves toward the Senate.