Crypto PACs pour over $52M into fight against Sherrod Brown

Crypto-aligned political groups have now spent more than $52 million trying to keep Democrat Sherrod Brown out of the US Senate. Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings made on Thursday show that Defend American Jobs, an affiliate of the Fairshake super PAC, has put $46.6 million into media opposing Brown and backing Republican incumbent Jon Husted in Ohio.

Far above the original plan

Fairshake, whose biggest backers include Coinbase and Ripple Labs, said in September that it expected to spend about $30 million against Brown. The latest filings put its affiliate more than 50% above that figure, with under three weeks left before the November election and early voting already ten days old in Ohio.

It is also not alone. The Digital Freedom Fund, a super PAC set up by Gemini founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, reported roughly $3 million in new ads this week, taking its total media buys in the race past $5.9 million.

Why Brown is a target

Brown chaired the Senate Banking Committee and was one of Congress's loudest sceptics of crypto-friendly legislation. In 2024 Fairshake spent $41 million backing Republican Bernie Moreno, who unseated him; this cycle's spending has already passed that total. Asked about the attack ads in a Pod Save America interview aired Friday, Brown pointed to a career spent taking on Wall Street, big pharma and big oil.

A wider midterm push

• Nebraska: Defend American Jobs also reported more than $6.7 million against independent Dan Osborn, who is challenging Republican Pete Ricketts. Ricketts voted for both the CLARITY market-structure bill and the GENIUS stablecoin act.
• War chest: Fairshake said in January it had $193 million in cash ahead of the 2026 elections.
• Other groups: the Fellowship committee, backed by Cantor Fitzgerald and Anchorage Digital, reported more than $11 million in spending between August 2025 and August 2026.

Fairshake and the Husted campaign did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph's requests for comment. The industry's courtroom and policy fights continue in parallel: this week a judge refused to undo Gemini's CFTC settlement, and the White House crypto council is losing another senior figure. For background on the stablecoin law Ricketts backed, see what a stablecoin is.