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Republicans Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine have a good chance of winning their respective races for Florida House districts on April 1.
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Two Republican candidates have won their respective congressional primaries for a special election after a cryptocurrency-backed political action committee (PAC) spent more than $700,000 to support their runs.
In a special election for two seats representing Florida in the US House of Representatives, Republicans Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine won their primaries for the state’s 1st and 6th congressional districts, respectively. The Defend American Jobs PAC — an affiliate of Fairshake, which spent more than $131 million in the 2024 election — supported Patronis’ and Fine’s races through media buys ahead of the Jan. 28 primaries.
Defend American Jobs PAC reporting expenditures to support Randy Fine’s candidacy. Source: FEC
According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, Defend American Jobs spent more than $500,000 on media buys supporting Fine and $200,000 on Patronis.
The Florida congressional districts have been represented entirely by Republicans for roughly 30 years. The PAC tended to support Republican candidates, while another Fairshake affiliate, Protect Progress, spent millions of dollars to support Democratic candidates in the 2024 election.
The expenditures represented the first efforts by a crypto industry-backed PAC to influence elections going into 2025 and beyond. Fairshake, supported primarily by contributions from Ripple Labs and Coinbase, reported raising $103 million to be used for candidates in the 2026 US midterms.
Related: After US election wins, the crypto industry looks to the 2026 midterms
In a statement to Cointelegraph, Fairshake spokesperson Josh Vlasto said:
“We were proud to support both candidates with TV ad campaigns. The industry looks forward to collaborating with them and the hundreds of members on both sides of the aisle committed to working together to pass responsible regulation.”
Florida officials were forced to hold the special election after 1st District Representative Matt Gaetz resigned his seat amid allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use, and 6th District Representative Mike Waltz left to become US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser. Residents will vote on whether to send Patronis and Fine to the House in an April 1 election.
Should the two Republicans defeat their Democratic challengers — Gay Valimont in the 1st and Josh Weil in the 6th — it could widen the party’s majority control of the House of Representatives, potentially impacting legislation affecting all areas, including digital assets. Lawmakers in the Senate will likely consider whether to move forward with a vote on a crypto market structure bill sometime in 2025.
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This article first appeared at Cointelegraph.com News
