Fairshake plans $30 million campaign against Sherrod Brown

Fairshake, the crypto industry's main super PAC, said it will begin a $30 million campaign against former Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio on Tuesday. The campaign will include advertising and mail criticizing Brown, a Democrat running to return to the Senate. Fairshake described the effort as part of a broader response to Democrats blocking the Clarity Act, a business-friendly bill that would have shielded the crypto industry from a regulatory crackdown under a future Democratic administration. Fairshake's overall spending in this year's general election is expected to lean heavily toward Republicans. The group said it will soon announce additional spending in House and Senate races supporting both Democrats and Republicans. The campaign is Fairshake's most aggressive move yet in the midterms, and it could affect the Ohio Senate race, which is among the year's leading contests for control of Congress. Fairshake spent $41 million targeting Brown in 2024, when he was the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee and a progressive critic of the industry. Brown lost that race, and many Republicans credited the crypto industry with helping them win. Fairshake has presented itself as bipartisan and supported some Democrats in the 2024 elections. Along with two affiliated groups, it has $120.4 million in its war chest, according to federal filings released on Sunday. The group had considered carrying much of that money into the 2028 election cycle, but its planned spending increased after the crypto bill failed. Brown has reduced his public criticism of crypto during his campaign. In an interview last month, he said he had not been outspoken against crypto in the 2024 election and said no industry should be allowed to write its own regulations. He also said he had not moderated his position, but believed crypto had a role in the economy and likely would for years. Some Republican operatives had criticized Fairshake for waiting to mobilize against Brown. Brown's Republican opponent, Senator Jon Husted, already has a substantial financial advantage. Republicans in Ohio are expected to outspend Democrats on advertising by about $30 million before Fairshake's money arrives, according to AdImpact. Fairshake has spent more than $68 million promoting or attacking candidates in congressional primaries this cycle. It helped nominate a Republican for Senate in Alabama and a Democrat for the House in Maryland, defeated a Democratic House incumbent in Texas, and suffered a setback in the Democratic Senate primary in Illinois. Every Senate Democrat voted against the Clarity Act, including Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Ruben Gallego of Arizona, whom Fairshake supported two years ago. Several Republicans also voted against it, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine. Brad Garlinghouse, chief executive of Fairshake donor Ripple, wrote that Democratic opposition to crypto had been elevated over good policy. Tyler Winklevoss, another Fairshake donor, wrote that no Democrat had voted for the bill and said there was a lesson in that. Some Republicans close to the industry privately blamed their party for agreeing to bipartisan negotiations on the bill, which they believed delayed Fairshake's spending. The New York Times previously reported that Senator Chuck Schumer warned Democratic lawmakers in February about the risk of crossing Fairshake.