The crypto industry's leading super PAC, Fairshake, is preparing to spend $30 million to defeat former Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown in the November midterms, according to a New York Times report confirmed by a Fairshake spokesperson. The move follows the Senate's failure to pass the CLARITY Act in a September 15 procedural vote, which fell short of the 60 votes needed and left the future of federal digital asset regulation uncertain.
The campaign is being described as a "revenge spend" after Brown, as former chair of the Senate Banking Committee from 2021 to 2025, slowed crypto-related legislation. Fairshake opened 2026 with about $193 million and still held roughly $130 million as of August, with Coinbase, Ripple, and Andreessen Horowitz supplying nearly all funds. A spokesperson said the PAC expects to announce additional midterm spend decisions in the coming days and weeks.
The Ohio race has become a rematch of 2024, when crypto interests committed more than $40 million to support Republican Bernie Moreno, who defeated Brown. Sen. Tim Scott later credited crypto funding, saying, "Thank you to all of y'all for getting rid of Sherrod Brown." Brown now faces Republican Sen. Jon Husted, whom Stand With Crypto rates as "strongly supports crypto." Brown's campaign says he recognizes cryptocurrency as part of the U.S. economy and would keep an open mind, but Stand With Crypto still ranks him "strongly against crypto."
Fairshake is part of a record corporate election wave: crypto, AI, and online betting firms are behind at least $517 million in spending this cycle, surpassing the $461 million corporations spent across all of 2024. Although Fairshake backed two Senate Democrats, Ruben Gallego and Elissa Slotkin, both voted against the CLARITY Act last week. The midterm outcome on November 3 could determine whether the CLARITY Act is revived or the SEC and CFTC write crypto rules instead. Democrats blocked the CLARITY Act partly out of concern that President Donald Trump could profit personally from digital asset ventures.
