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Crypto's Fairshake PAC Backs Republicans With Last-Minute Cash in Florida Races
The high-profile campaign operation is putting $1.5 million into Florida special elections that could have significant consequences for the House GOP majority.
What to know:
- Two U.S. House of Representatives seats up for grabs in Florida's special election have drawn new money from the crypto sector's super PAC, Fairshake.
- The seats are key for Republicans to maintain their tight House majority.
- One of the openings is connected to Matt Gaetz, the congressman who President Donald Trump had nominated for attorney general but who dropped out under a cloud of criminal accusations.
The crypto industry’s Fairshake political action committee is flooding Republican candidates with last-minute money in special congressional elections in Florida.
Two U.S. House of Representatives seats had been opened by resignations when their occupants were tapped for posts in President Donald Trump’s administration, including that of Matt Gaetz, the politician Trump sought for the attorney general job who was tied to accusations of sex with a minor and drug abuse. The open seats are pivotal for Republicans' control of their tight margin in their House majority, so Democrats have devoted tremendous money and attention to them.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
An affiliate of the Fairshake super PAC, which is set up to devote money to candidate advertising independent of campaigns' involvement, had already weighed in during the primary there to tap crypto-friendly candidates. Now it's spending another $1.2 million to support state Senator Randy Fine, who is seeking the seat vacated by Trump's national security advisor, Michael Waltz, according to PAC spokesman Josh Vlasto. And it's putting about $345,000 toward the state's chief financial officer, Jimmy Patronis, to fill Gaetz' seat.
Both Republican candidates in the April 1 special election check Fairshake's primary box: They support digital assets. Early voting is set to begin this weekend, and Democrats have also devoted money. However, the seats have leaned significantly Republican in recent voting.
Overall, the House is short four members, because two Democrat members from Texas and Arizona died this month. If Democrats managed to win all four seats, Republicans would be left with a single-vote majority.
Jesse Hamilton
Jesse Hamilton is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor on the Global Policy and Regulation team, based in Washington, D.C. Before joining CoinDesk in 2022, he worked for more than a decade covering Wall Street regulation at Bloomberg News and Businessweek, writing about the early whisperings among federal agencies trying to decide what to do about crypto. He’s won several national honors in his reporting career, including from his time as a war correspondent in Iraq and as a police reporter for newspapers. Jesse is a graduate of Western Washington University, where he studied journalism and history. He has no crypto holdings.
