- The crypto super PAC, Fairshake, notched another win in this year's primary elections after U.S. Representative Barry Moore won the Alabama runoff election for its available Senate seat.
- Fairshake had backed Moore, a reliable supporter of crypto legislation, with more than $12 million.
More than any other congressional race this year, the crypto sector's campaign-funding operations dumped massive cash into Barry Moore's Alabama Senate bid, with the leading political action committee alone spending more than $12 million to push the Republican onto the general-election ballot.
It worked. On Tuesday, Moore won the Republican primary runoff over former Navy Seal Jared Hudson, so Trump's loyal supporter will now be expected to triumph in the November general election because of his state's deeply GOP voter base.
The Fairshake super PAC and its affiliates remain the crypto industry's leading campaign-finance operations, and they devoted their most extensive spending yet to Moore, who as a member of Congress has voted yes on every noteworthy piece of crypto legislation. Moore didn't exceed the 50% mark in the initial May primary in Alabama, so a runoff was held this week.
“Our biggest spend of the cycle yielded yet another pro-innovation champion in the Senate, and with nearly $150 million cash on hand we are ready to continue driving the construction of the largest pro-crypto caucus in history,” said Geoff Vetter, a Fairshake spokesman.
At the time of their most recent filings with the Federal Election Commission, the collection of related PACs had about $164 million on hand at the end of April, though they were spending at a rapid clip.
Tuesday's result — with Moore taking almost 56% of the vote — will likely counter the industry's setback in Illinois, where Fairshake spent more than $10 million trying to defeat Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who went on to claim victory in the Democratic primary, all but guaranteeing that the next Senate would have a member who crypto interests spent heavily against. Most of Fairshake's outcomes have been successful, though, and the latest win joins what's shaping up as a full roster of successful primary candidates backed by the super PAC.
Moore, who was also backed by the crypto-tied Fellowship PAC, hopes to trade his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives with the Senate position held by Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville, who made a bid for governor.
Fairshake also devoted $735,000 to U.S. Representative Kevin Hern in this week's Oklahoma Republican primary, where he won his party's Senate nomination. Like Moore, Hern was also endorsed by President Trump.
Fairshake is mostly backed by three crypto-world contributors: Coinbase, a16z Crypto and Ripple. The PAC made a name for itself in the previous congressional campaign cycle, when it supported more than 50 pro-crypto candidates (from both major parties) who've participated in this session of Congress, outpacing a number of leading industry PACs and even some of the largest party organizations.
The industry's campaign arm started this year's elections with $193 million, which it generally spends on advertising that highlights what organizers see as winning political aspects of the candidates – not advocacy of their crypto positions. The "independent expenditure" ads are not associated with the candidate's campaigns.
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