A political action committee (PAC) associated with the cryptocurrency industry and primarily funded by it reported spending more than $11 million on advertising in support of Republican John Husted and against Democrat Sherrod Brown in the race for one of Ohio’s U.S. Senate seats.
In a statement filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), PAC Defend American Jobs, affiliated with the group Fairshake, backed by Coinbase and Ripple Labs, reported $11.4 million in advertising spend in support of Husted and against the possible return of Brown to the Senate. The ad buys appear to be part of Fairshake’s pledge to initially spend $30 million in the Ohio race, trying to prevent the election of Brown, who previously served as chair of the Senate Banking Committee and was one of Congress’s most outspoken critics of legislation and policies favorable to cryptocurrencies.
Statement by the Defend American Jobs PAC dated September 24. Source: FED
Cointelegraph reached out to the Huested and Brown teams for comment but did not receive an immediate response. In a request made in August 2025 after his Senate campaign began, Brown told Cointelegraph:
“Cryptocurrency is part of the American economy and is becoming more widespread in Ohio and across the country. As with all of my work, my goal is to make sure that as more people use cryptocurrency, it empowers and improves the lives of Ohio residents rather than putting them at risk.”
In 2024, the Ohio Senate race between Brown, then an incumbent senator, and Republican Bernie Moreno resulted in more than $300 million in spending by outside groups such as Fairshake. According to FEC data, the crypto-industry-linked PAC and its affiliated entities spent about $41 million alone on ads attacking Brown and supporting Moreno. The Republican won the election with 50.2% of the vote versus 46.4% for Brown.
Huested was appointed to the Senate by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine after a vacancy arose for the seat previously held by J.D. Vance, who was elected U.S. vice president in 2024.
Who else does the crypto industry support in Ohio politics?
Vivek Ramaswamy, co-founder of the digital asset management firm Strive, ran as a Republican in the 2024 U.S. presidential election and frequently spoke positively about cryptocurrencies and blockchain. He did not work in the Trump administration; instead, shortly after the president’s inauguration in 2025, he announced plans to run for governor of Ohio and won the Republican Party nomination in May 2026. In November, he will face Democrat Amy Acton in the election.
As a candidate for governor, the Republican receives financial support from three co-founders of the Trump family’s cryptocurrency company World Liberty Financial: Chase Herro, Zak Folkman, and Zachary Witkoff. All of them donated the maximum amount—$16,615—to Ramaswamy’s campaign. His PAC, “V-PAC: Victors, Not Victims,” also received a total of $20 million in donations from Susquehanna International Group co-founder Jeff Yass, $6 million from NYDIG founder Ross Stevens, and $5,000 from the Bitcoin Voter Project.
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