Crypto’s campaign efforts see rare loss, but crypto roster in Congress likely to grow

The latest U.S. congressional primary elections this week saw another unusual setback for the crypto industry’s largest campaign fund when incumbent Representative Shri Thanedar got shut down by progressive challenger Donavan McKinney for a Democratic nomination in Detroit.

It cost the Fairshake political action committee more than $2 million, and the industry loses an incumbent ally in the House of Representatives who co-sponsored its version of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act and had also been active in other crypto legislation. His democratic socialist opponent is a blank slate on crypto issues, but he drew endorsements from Senator Bernie Sanders and progressive Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who also won his primary.

The super PAC’s spending on Thanedar represented its biggest financial commitment among the primaries in Michigan and Washington conducted on Tuesday. However, the spending from Fairshake and its affiliates prevailed in five other primaries, mostly backing incumbents: Bill Huizenga in Michigan (a Republican who was also a Clarity co-sponsor) and Democrats Suzan Delbene, Kim Schrier and Marilyn Strickland in Washington. Plus, the industry backed Amanda McKinney, a pro-crypto Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump, in a Washington GOP race.