Crypto’s main political action committee has poured money into its races for Florida congressional seats vacated by one of President-elect Donald Trump’s closest allies, Matt Gaetz, and the politician Trump picked as national security adviser , Michael Waltz.
With an extremely tight majority in the House of Representatives, the replacement of Florida’s two Republicans is critical to the party’s political agenda in Congress. Crypto super PAC Fairshake, through its affiliate PAC, Defend American Jobs, has begun spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on pro-crypto names in the special elections scheduled to fill seats.
Gaetz was briefly tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to be U.S. attorney general, the nation’s top law enforcement official, but resigned from consideration and Congress as pressures mounted for an ethics investigation. the House about his alleged payments for drugs and sex (including a report of sexual activity with a 17-year-old).
Trump turned to embrace the state’s chief financial officer, Jimmy Patronis, as his favorite candidate to fill the resulting vacancy in the House of Representatives. Patronis, who is outpacing a crowded field of Republican challengers in the Jan. 28 primary, is benefiting from about $200,000 in ad spending from Fairshake, the group said.
In October, Patronis pushed to allocate some state pension money to cryptocurrency investments.
The PAC also pledged about $500,000 to get state Sen. Randy Fine to fill Rep. Waltz’s vacancy. Trump also backed Fine in an endorsement that reportedly scattered several potential competitors.
The candidate posted on social media site X this week that “Floridians want crypto innovation!”
Super PACs can purchase ads for or against candidates, as long as they are “independent expenditures” not approved or coordinated by the candidates. Fairshake spent $139 million to help 53 allies participate in the new session of Congress, resulting in one in ten sitting lawmakers benefiting from cryptocurrency-funded ads.
“We’re keeping our foot on the accelerator,” Fairshake spokesman Josh Vlasto said Friday.
The PAC still has a whopping $103 million in funds at its disposal for the next congressional election cycle, putting it well ahead of the 2026 election.
Read more: Crypto Cash boosted 53 members of the next US Congress
