WASHINGTON — A cash-flush pro-cryptocurrency super PAC will now support U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell’s reelection campaign, the group announced Monday.
The PAC, called Fairshake, will support 32 bipartisan House candidates, including the Birmingham Democrat, ahead of the midterms. The crypto industry-funded group is backing 13 Democrats and 19 Republicans as Congress considers rules around digital asset markets.
“Fairshake has always been and always will be an issue-focused organization,” Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter said in a statement. “We back pro-crypto candidates who support American innovation in both parties.”
It’s unclear how much the super PAC will spend on Sewell, who is running against Republican Ammie Akin, a former educator from Birmingham. The Cook Political Report rates Alabama’s 7th District race as Solid Democratic, with Sewell entering November as the clear frontrunner.
The organization will spend the most on six candidates, three Republicans and three Democrats, giving them each $1 million. They are Democratic Reps. Janelle Bynum of Oregon, Steven Horsford of Nevada and Derek Tran of California. For the Republicans, Fairshake will spend $1 million on Reps. French Hill of Arkansas, Bryan Steil of Wisconsin and Bill Huizenga of Michigan.
Fairshake and its affiliated PACs have about $120 million cash on hand as of the end of August.
In Alabama’s U.S. Senate race, Fairshake’s Republican-affiliated super PAC, Defend American Jobs, spent heavily to propel Rep. Barry Moore to win the Republican nomination to fill Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s seat. The PAC spent about $9.8 million in advertising on Moore leading up to the primary and runoff, according to AdImpact. Moore will now face Democrat Everett Wess, a Birmingham lawyer, in November.
Fairshake’s Democratic-affiliated super PAC, Protect Progress, shelled out about $2.4 million to support Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, in his 2024 campaign for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, according to Open Secrets.
Sewell and all of Alabama’s House delegation voted in support of the CLARITY Act, which passed the House in July last year. The legislation would provide federal rules for digital assets and define regulatory oversight between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The crypto industry is supportive of the bill.
But the CLARITY Act stalled in the Senate last month, when it failed to get enough support to advance. Sens. Katie Britt and Tuberville voted to advance it.
Stand with Crypto, an advocacy group, has ranked Sewell as “strongly supportive” of the crypto industry.
Vetter said Fairshake has “won 53 of the 57 races” the organization has spent on this cycle as the group looks to “build on the largest pro-crypto caucus in American history.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.