Crypto super PAC Fairshake backed winners in four of five congressional primaries on Tuesday, but a Miami-area Democrat withstood more than $2 million in attack ads funded by the group.

The results show how the crypto-backed network is spreading its spending across both parties as lawmakers head toward another fall session where digital-asset policy is expected to remain on the agenda.

Two affiliated PACs, four wins

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

Defend American Jobs spent roughly $1.5 million supporting three Republicans, two of whom won. Sydney Gruters prevailed in Florida's 16th district, and Representative Harriet Hageman won the Wyoming Senate race. The third candidate, Nick Begich of Alaska's at-large district, is expected to advance.

On the Democratic side, Protect Progress spent more than $150,000 backing Lois Frankel, who won the primary in Florida's 23rd district. All four winners will likely face challengers in November's general election, keeping Fairshake-linked races in play beyond the primary stage.

The Miami exception

Florida's 24th district was the one setback. Protect Progress poured over $2 million into negative advertising there and still lost. Oliver Gilbert took the Democratic primary with 34.4% of the vote, beating 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 defended the campaign, saying "the underlying facts in our ad are true." Gilbert made no mention of crypto or the ad campaign in his Tuesday night victory speech.

A $193 million war chest

The network reported a $193 million war chest as of January, drawn largely from Coinbase, Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz. In the 2024 cycle it spent more than $130 million to help elect allies and defeat critics, and as of June it had already spent more than $82 million on 2026 races.

Protect Progress spent roughly $5.5 million in June to help Maryland state delegate Adrian Boafo win the Democratic nomination in that state's 5th district, part of a total of about $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 — nearly all of it transferred in from affiliated committees — along with $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 out of session until September, when the Senate will consider a cloture motion on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, a bill meant to set comprehensive rules for digital assets. The House passed the CLARITY Act in July 2025 by a bipartisan vote of 294-134. Senate Democrats have pushed for stronger ethics language related to the Trump family's crypto holdings.

Sources: CryptoNewsNet | Cryptopolitan