Four of the five candidates supported by ads funded by the cryptocurrency-aligned political action committee Fairshake won their primaries or advanced on Tuesday, a result that could signal the industry’s growing influence ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. According to Cointelegraph, Democratic and Republican candidates backed by media funded by the Fairshake-affiliated PACs Protect Progress and Defend American Jobs posted wins across Alaska, Florida and Wyoming, with the groups spending about $3.6 million on House and Senate races in those states. Democrat Lois Frankel won re-election in Florida’s 23rd congressional district after Protect Progress spent more than $150,000 on supportive media. Defend American Jobs also spent a combined $1.5 million on ads supporting Republican Nick Begich in Alaska’s at-large congressional district, Republican candidate Sydney Gruters in Florida’s 16th congressional district and Representative Harriet Hageman for the US Senate in Wyoming. Gruters and Hageman won their primaries, while Begich is expected to advance in Alaska. All four candidates are likely to face challengers in the 2026 midterms in November. In Florida’s 24th district, Democrat Oliver Gilbert won despite being targeted by more than $2 million in negative ads funded by Protect Progress, defeating challengers Shevrin Jones and Kendrick Meek with 34.4% of the vote in a race that drew attention to the crypto industry’s potential influence.

Gilbert’s race also became a point of dispute over the ads themselves. According to an Aug. 12 Miami Herald report, Gilbert said “[Donald] Trump’s tech billionaire buddies” were behind the “crypto con artists trying to buy a Democratic primary” through the Protect Progress ads. The report said the ads used fake Miami Herald headlines that misrepresented Gilbert’s policy positions, while a spokesperson for the PAC said “the underlying facts in our ad are true.” Fairshake, which reported holding a $193 million war chest as of January, funded more than $130 million in ads supporting candidates it viewed as pro-crypto in the 2024 election cycle and opposing many who criticized the industry or voted against its interests. As of June, the committee had spent more than $82 million on races ahead of the 2026 midterms. Gilbert did not mention the crypto industry or the ads in his Tuesday night acceptance speech. Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter said the PAC was “just getting started building the largest pro-crypto Congress in history” after the three state primaries and other candidates winning in 2026. The outcome may also matter for crypto market structure legislation, as both chambers of Congress are on recess until September, when the Senate is scheduled to address a cloture motion on the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act. The bill passed the House with bipartisan support in July on a 294-134 vote, but many Senate Democrats have pushed for stronger ethics provisions tied to the Trump family’s crypto investments. Depending on the 2026 elections, Congress could shift from a Republican to Democratic majority, potentially affecting whether lawmakers advance or stall legislation such as CLARITY before 2027.