Crypto Advocacy Group Backs Bipartisan Slate in Key Midterm Races
Stand With Crypto, the advocacy organization launched by Coinbase in 2023, revealed a bipartisan list of endorsements for Senate and House races on Wednesday, intensifying its electoral efforts just a month before November’s midterm elections and two weeks after the collapse of the Clarity Act in the Senate.
The group’s initial Senate endorsements cover three contests. In Ohio, it is supporting Republican Senator Jon Husted, who is competing against Sherrod Brown, the former Chair of the Senate Banking Committee and a long-standing skeptic of cryptocurrency.
Stand With Crypto also announced its backing for Republican Representative Ashley Hinson, who is running for a Senate seat in Iowa, and Democratic Representative Chris Pappas, campaigning in New Hampshire against former Republican Senator John Sununu. The organization stated that its candidate selections are based on their stances on cryptocurrency policy, “regardless of party affiliation.”
On the House side, endorsements include Iowa Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Alabama Democrat Shomari Figures. The group indicated it plans to increase its advertising in six House campaigns. This follows an earlier round of endorsements in August, when Stand With Crypto backed 32 incumbent House members it described as “proven digital asset policy champions.”
The timing of these endorsements is particularly significant, given the recent failure of the Clarity Act and the subsequent, thinly veiled threats issued by the lobbying group towards lawmakers who voted against it.
The Senate failed to advance the Clarity Act last month in a 49-50 vote, with Democrats voting as a unified bloc amid concerns regarding President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency dealings. Stand With Crypto characterized this legislative setback as a pivotal moment, warning at the time that senators’ votes would be recorded on its public scorecard and that its supporters would hold lawmakers accountable at the ballot box.
Executive Director Mason Lynaugh has stated that the group’s more than three million advocates are now fully concentrated on electing pro-cryptocurrency candidates.
These endorsements emerge amidst a significant influx of political funding into the cryptocurrency sector. Unlike super PACs, Stand With Crypto does not make direct campaign contributions. Instead, it focuses on voter mobilization and evaluates candidates through its Voter Hub.
However, candidates who receive high ratings from the group often benefit from funding from industry-aligned PACs. The Fairshake super PAC, for instance, recently launched a $30 million spending campaign targeting Brown, and combined political spending from cryptocurrency-aligned groups has approached approximately $200 million for the current election cycle.
The endorsement of Husted highlights the critical nature of the Ohio race. Brown’s potential return to the Senate would grant cryptocurrency skeptics a powerful voice on the Senate Banking Committee, making Ohio a crucial test case for the industry’s electoral influence and its ability to sway voter behavior.
For the moment, the message from the grassroots wing of the cryptocurrency sector is unambiguous: with legislative progress stalled in Congress, the battleground has shifted to the campaign trail.
