Two Republican candidates supported by at least a combined $1.5 million in media spending from a cryptocurrency-backed political action committee (PAC) are making final pleas to voters turning out for special elections in Florida congressional districts.
On April 1, voters in Florida’s 1st and 6th congressional districts will head to the polls to decide whether to keep Republican representatives or hand over control to Democrats for the first time in roughly 30 years. The Defend American Jobs PAC — an affiliate of Fairshake, which poured more than $131 million in the 2024 US election cycle — has spent a combined $1.5 million on media for Republicans Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine, running against Democrats Gay Valimont and Josh Weil, respectively.
Source: Gay Valimont for Congress
Though the Florida congressional districts have historically favored Republican candidates, Democrats Valimont and Weil both raised significantly more than Patronis and Fine as of March — a reported roughly $6.5 million and $10 million against the Republicans’ $1 million and $1 million, respectively. These amounts do not reflect the media buys from PACs like Defend American Jobs or Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s America PAC, which spent more than $20,000 for texting services in the two congressional elections.
As of March 31, there were four vacant seats in the US House of Representatives following two Democratic lawmakers dying and two Republicans resigning in anticipation of positions with the Trump administration. If Democrats were to keep their existing two seats and flip the two in Florida, Republicans’ majority in the chamber would narrow to 217 to 218 — not changing majority control, but likely influencing how the House would consider legislation and policy.
Among the crypto-related legislation being considered in Congress included a market structure bill and stablecoin regulation. Some lawmakers have suggested that they intended to get both bills passed before Congress goes on recess in August.
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Michigan Representative Shri Thanedar, a Democrat who described himself as largely self-funded and may have benefitted from crypto-backed PAC money in his 2024 race, spoke to Cointelegraph on March 27 about the role the industry could have on future elections.
Protect Progress — another Fairshake-affiliated PAC — spent more than $1 million on a media buy to support the Michigan representative in his August 2024 primary. He defeated Republican Martell Bivings in November with 68% of the vote.
“I was surprised to see those ads,” Thanedar told Cointelegraph, referring to Protect Progress’ media outreach. “I was not aware that such an ad would be appearing in support of my campaign.”
The Michigan lawmaker added:
“Crypto is not unique to this. There are multiple industries […] that have PACs and Super PACs and independent expenditures. All of that money, the dark money in our politics, has to go. As long as we have the dark money in politics, that is going to impact our politicians.”
Looking to the 2026 midterms
After many Democratic and Republican candidates espousing “pro-crypto” views won in the 2024 elections, Fairshake spokesperson Josh Vlasto said the PAC was “keeping [its] foot on the gas” in the future. Major firms like Coinbase and Ripple Labs have contributed tens of millions of dollars to the PAC.
As of January, Fairshake reported holding more than $116 million to spend on candidates in 2025 and 2026. Vlasto declined to comment on the April 1 special elections but said after the January primaries, the PAC was “proud to support [Patronis and Fine] with TV ad campaigns.”
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