Tech Influence Watch

@influence.citationneeded.news

Follow the cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence industries’ influence on elections in the United States. By @molly.wiki, creator of @web3isgoinggreat.com.

The cryptocurrency industry super PACs dumped $14.2 million into the Illinois primaries. 90% of that – $12.8 million – was wasted, in that it went to opposing Democratic candidates who won their primaries (Stratton in the Senate race, Ford in H-07) or supporting their opponents.

Robert Peters has lost his Democratic primary in Illinois, where the Fairshake pro-crypto super PAC network spent $817,000 against him. The AI PACs, which share leadership, backed Jackson. However, the victor, Donna Miller, also received an "A" rating from the Stand With Crypto advocacy group.

Tech Influence Watch@influence.citationneeded.news · 5mo ago

On February 17, the Fairshake crypto super PAC spent $41,000 to oppose Democrat Robert Peters in his primary race in Illinois District 2. As with Ford in District 7, the PACs are targeting him for his support of a consumer protection bill in the IL Senate. www.followthecrypto.org/2026/electio...

Money involved in this election

Donna Miller (D): $1.3M raised, $1.5M in outside spending to support
Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D): $206k raised, $1.1M in outside spending to support
Robert Peters (D): $900k raised, $310k in outside spending to support, $82k in outside spending to oppose ($41k from crypto PACs)
Mike Noak (R): No spending data

La Shawn Ford’s campaign launched a rebuttal ad against Fairshake, the crypto super PAC that has spent $2.5 million against him in #IL07. The ad points to TV and print coverage to show that Fairshake’s attacks omit a key fact: the charges against Ford were dropped.

Crypto super PAC Fairshake is approaching $10M attacking IL Dem Senate candidate Juliana Stratton for taking ~$40k from “MAGA donors”. Meanwhile the Fairshake network has spent millions backing MAGA candidates like Barry Moore (AL), Randy Fine & Jimmy Patronis (FL), and Jessica Steinmann (TX).

Bean indeed was supported in a new ad today, paid for by pro-crypto PAC Protect Progress, Democrat-supporting arm of Fairshake. Bean is the sixth of eight frontrunners who filled out the Stand With Crypto questionnaire to receive direct or indirect support from a linked super PAC.

Ryan Ottignon@ryaninevanston.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Most questionnaire-submitting frontrunners ended up being implicitly or explicitly supported by the crypto lobby. I expect Melissa Bean to be as well, with the IL-08 ads dropping tomorrow morning. IL-09 was notably absent from the support list. 7/9

The Fairshake pro-crypto super PAC has just spent $5.2 million on attack ads targeting Democrat Juliana Stratton in her primary race for Illinois Senate. The ads cast her as “corrupt criminal Mike Madigan’s hand-picked politician” who “follow[s] his orders at any cost”.

Other February PAC spending mostly targets races in states with early primaries. • $260k to back Jessica Steinmann in TX H-8 • $92k to back Chris Gober in TX H-10 • $141k to back Trever Nehls in TX H-22 • $81k to back Tim Moore in NC H-14

From February 5–18, the Fairshake super PAC network spent $384,000 to support incumbent Republican French Hill in Arkansas’ District 2. Hill is Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and a longtime industry ally who has also received $500,000 in direct support from Coinbase and others.

Money involved in this election
French Hill (R): $3.1M raised (~$543,000 from crypto donors), $420,000 in outside spending to support ($384,000 from crypto PACs)
Chris Jones (D): $470,000 raised
Chase McDowell (R): $160,000 raised

Democrat Elizabeth Warren has won re-election to the Massachusetts Senate, winning over longshot crypto candidate Republican John Deaton. Deaton received $1.7 million in backing from crypto industry, which also spent a bit over $400K to oppose Warren. www.followthecrypto.org/elections/MA-S

Massachusetts Senate election | Follow the Crypto

Cryptocurrency industry spending to influence the Massachusetts Senate election.

followthecrypto.org

Republican Jim Justice has won his West Virginia Senate race, flipping the seat from retiring Democrat Joe Manchin. Justice was heavily favored to win. He received $3 million in crypto super PAC support in his primary race, but no support in the general. www.followthecrypto.org/elections/WV-S

West Virginia Senate election | Follow the Crypto

Cryptocurrency industry spending to influence the West Virginia Senate election.

followthecrypto.org

Some more big spending coming out of the crypto industry recently: • Another $7.6M to support Bernie Moreno (Republican candidate for Ohio Senate), totaling $19.6M in support thus far • $3.5M to support Ruben Gallego (Dem running for AZ Senate)

The Defend American Jobs crypto-focused super PAC has just poured more than $12 million into Republican Bernie Moreno's campaign against incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown in the Ohio Senate race. This is the largest crypto PAC expenditure involving a single candidate so far.

Spending in the Ohio Senate race.
Sherrod Brown (D) has raised $53 million, and has received $1.8 million in outside spending to support and $3.2 million in outside spending to oppose.
Bernie Moreno (R) has raised $16 million, and has received $19 million in outside spending to support ($12 million from crypto-focused PACs) and $9.4 million to oppose.

After a mandatory recount, Yassamin Ansari has been declared the victor in the Democratic primary for the House seat representing Arizona’s District 3. The race was decided by only 39 votes. She’s likely to win the general election against longshot Republican candidate Jeff Zink.