The crypto industry’s campaign finance arm, the Fairshake political action committee, is already racking up victories in the opening primaries of the 2026 U.S. Congressional midterm elections, having supported several lesser candidates while opposing prominent longtime Texas congressman Al Green.
Jessica Steinmann, a former Justice Department lawyer backed by President Donald Trump, won a landslide victory with nearly 70% of the vote in the Republican primary for Texas’ 8th District, according to state voting results. Of the many candidates Fairshake backed in Tuesday’s contests, she got the most, with more than $750,000 reported in the most recent Federal Election Commission filings.
Her campaign website described her as “a strong supporter of digital assets, blockchain technology and financial innovation that expands economic freedom,” and her primary victory in a Republican-leaning district bodes well for a potential victory in the November general election.
“Voters responded to his commitment to strengthening the economy through innovation and ensuring that emerging technologies, like crypto, create jobs and prosperity in his community,” Fairshake said in a statement released after the primary. With Steinmann and several other winners in these primaries, Fairshake will already be counting on some likely additions to its pro-crypto allies after the general election.
One of Fairshake’s biggest tests Tuesday — his bid to knock veteran Texas Democrat Green from his seat — appears headed for a runoff. Green has been among the crypto industry’s most vocal opponents on Capitol Hill, voting against the legislation and earning an “F” rating from the advocacy group Stand With Crypto. But after Fairshake opposed Green with $1.5 million in ads, the longtime lawmaker followed his Democratic opponent, pro-blockchain Christian Menefee, into the newly redrawn congressional district that both incumbents were forced to pursue. With neither candidate receiving more than half the vote, they are heading to a runoff later.
Also in Texas, Fairshake endorsed Republicans Chris Gober in the 10th, a conservative lawyer who founded Lex Politica to focus on political litigation and government investigations, and Trever Nehls in the 22nd, a military veteran and Trump loyalist who is seeking to replace his identical twin brother in the seat. Gober won with more than 50 percent of the vote in a packed audience, and Nehls got 76 percent. Both districts have been dominated by Republicans, giving Fairshake candidates a good chance of winning the general election.
The super PAC had also backed Rep. French Hill, the Arkansas Republican who serves as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and is the policy lead on crypto legislation in the House of Representatives. Hill, supported by more than $400,000 in Fairshake ads, easily won his primary with 77 percent.
In North Carolina, the PAC supported a new incumbent, Republican Rep. Tim Moore, who won 83 percent of the vote. His crypto voting record earned him an “A” rating from Stand With Crypto, and Fairshake invested over $80,000 in his race.
The crypto industry’s main PAC (and its two subsidiary PACs) had $193 million at the start of the election season. Fairshake is by far the industry’s dominant campaign contribution channel, so large that it is among the largest PACs in the country, rivaling even political parties’ own campaign arms.
When he weighs in on an election, he doesn’t do so to influence voters’ opinions on crypto. Ads purchased by Fairshake – without direct coordination with campaigns – present purely political arguments for or against a candidate, without any mention of digital assets. In the 2024 elections, he has supported 53 candidates currently in Congress.
Read more: Crypto PAC Fairshake seeks to force Texas Democratic holdout Al Green out of U.S. House of Representatives
