Crypto’s chief political action committee has put money on its picks for the congressional seats in Florida being vacated by one of President-elect Donald Trump’s closest allies, Matt Gaetz, and the politician Trump tapped as a national security advisor, Michael Waltz.
With a tight majority in the House of Representatives, replacing the two Florida Republicans is top of the party’s political agenda in Congress. Crypto super PAC Fairshake — through its affiliate PAC, Defend American Jobs — began spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on pro-crypto names in special election set to fill the seats.
Gaetz was briefly President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for US attorney general — the nation’s top law enforcement official — but he resigned from consideration and from Congress as pressure mounted from a Investigating the ethics of the house on his alleged payments for drugs and sex (including a report of sexual activity with a 17-year-old).
Trump turned to embrace the state’s chief financial officer, Jimmy Patronisas his favorite candidate to fill the resulting opening in the House of Representatives. Patronuswhich is outpacing a crowded field of Republican rivals in the Jan. 28 primary, is benefiting from about $200,000 in ad spending from Fairshake, the group said.
In October, Patronis pushed to put money into the state pension in crypto investments.
The PAC also pledged about $500,000 to raise State Senator Randy Fine to fill the vacancy of Representative Waltz. Trump also backed Fine with an endorsement that said a number of potential competitors are scattered.
The candidate posted on social media site X this week “Floridians want crypto innovation!”
Super PACs can buy ads for or against candidates, as long as they are “independent expenditures” not approved or coordinated by the candidates. Fairshake spent $139 million to help gain 53 allies in the new session of Congress, so one in ten sitting lawmakers benefited from crypto-funded ads.
“We are keeping our foot on the gas,” Fairshake spokesman Josh Vlasto said Friday.
The PAC still has a whopping $103 million in funds available for the next congressional election cycle, putting it ahead of the curve for the 2026 race.
Read more: Crypto Cash Fueled 53 Members of the Next US Congress
