Crypto PACs escalate spending against Sherrod Brown in Ohio Senate race

Affiliates of the Fairshake political action committee (PAC), largely funded by Coinbase and Ripple Labs, have increased their initially announced expenditures by more than 50% in what could be a key race for control of Congress in 2026.

According to Thursday filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Fairshake affiliate Defend American Jobs — a group that supports Republican candidates in primaries and elections — spent $46.6 million on media opposing former lawmaker Sherrod Brown and supporting Republican incumbent Jon Husted in Ohio’s Senate race for the 2026 midterms. The spending marked a sharp increase over what Fairshake said in September it initially planned to spend opposing Brown’s return to the Senate: $30 million.

“I’ve spent my career taking on Wall Street, taking on big pharma, taking on big oil and been successful in many cases,” said Brown in an interview aired Friday on Pod Save America, addressing the attack ads funded by the crypto industry, adding:

“Jon Husted is their boy [...] They know he’s their guy, they know I’m going to hold him accountable and I guess it’s a perfect storm, so they spend literally tens and tens of millions of dollars.”

With just under three weeks until the US election, early voting has already been underway for 10 days in Ohio. Notably, Fairshake’s affiliate was not the only crypto-aligned PAC to ramp up spending as Ohio voters cast their ballots. The Digital Freedom Fund, a Super PAC created by Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, reported about $3 million in ad spending this week to oppose Brown and support Husted, bringing the group’s total media purchases in the Ohio race to more than $5.9 million.

Fairshake’s expenditures have already exceeded its efforts in 2024, when the PAC spent $41 million supporting Republican Bernie Moreno and opposing Brown, who was running for reelection to the Senate at the time. The Democratic lawmaker chaired the Senate Banking Committee and was one of the more outspoken voices challenging laws and policies favored by the crypto industry while serving in Congress.

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The Ohio race isn’t Fairshake’s only focus with the midterm elections looming. Defend American Jobs reported spending more than $6.7 million to oppose Independent candidate Dan Osborn in Nebraska’s Senate race. Osborn is running against Republican Pete Ricketts, who voted in favor of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act and the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act while in office.

Cointelegraph reached out to Fairshake and Husted’s campaign for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

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Fairshake has been open about its intention to “back pro-crypto candidates” in 2026 as part of a goal to fill the next session of Congress with lawmakers supportive of policies favored by the industry. The PAC reported in January that it held $193 million in cash on hand ahead of the elections.

Beyond PACs like Fairshake and Digital Freedom Fund, other groups aligned with crypto interests have already tried to influence 2026 voters. The Fellowship committee, backed by Cantor Fitzgerald and Anchorage Digital, reported spending more than $11 million between August 2025 and August 2026, largely on media supporting House and Senate candidates.

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