- Two Texas congressional runoff elections this week are being heavily influenced by spending from cryptocurrency industry-aligned political action committees.
- Protect Progress, a PAC affiliated with Fairshake, has reported spending nearly $7.8 million to support challenger Christian Menefee and oppose incumbent Al Green in a House race.
- Prediction markets are giving extremely high odds of victory to both Menefee and US Senate candidate Ken Paxton, who is also backed by crypto industry funding.
- The outcomes could affect which party controls Congress in 2027 and influence future cryptocurrency policy legislation.
Voters in Texas are heading to the polls this Tuesday for critical runoff elections that could reshape congressional power, with two candidates bolstered by millions in cryptocurrency industry spending. The races for Texas’ 18th congressional district and a US Senate seat will be decided after no candidate secured a majority in March primaries. Consequently, the crypto industry’s financial involvement through political action committees has become a pivotal factor in these contests.
Protect Progress, affiliated with the Ripple– and Coinbase-backed Fairshake PAC, reported spending $5 million to support Democratic challenger Christian Menefee. The PAC also spent $2.8 million on ads opposing incumbent Al Green. Meanwhile, in the Republican Senate primary, the Fellowship PAC, funded by Cantor Fitzgerald and Anchorage, reported spending $500,000 to support Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent John Cornyn.
Prediction markets are heavily favoring the crypto-backed candidates. The Kalshi prediction market provided a 91% chance for Menefee and a 96% chance for Paxton. Bets on the Senate race topped more than $16 million in total volume according to market data. However, at least one ad funded by Protect Progress to support Menefee did not mention crypto, focusing instead on Green’s opposition to President Trump.
Former opinion writer Bill King said in a local FOX26 segment, “I saw 12 television commercials yesterday paid for by the Protect Progress PAC […] and that same group of people are the ones that are primarily funding Trump.” The outcome of these primaries could influence which party controls Congress going into 2027, affecting future legislation like the stablecoin GENIUS Act.
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