Update (Sept. 28, 8:52 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a response from Jon Husted’s campaign.
A political action committee (PAC) aligned with and largely funded by the cryptocurrency industry reported spending more than $11 million on ads supporting Republican Jon Husted and opposing Democrat Sherrod Brown in a race for one of Ohio’s seats in the US Senate.
In a Thursday filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Defend American Jobs PAC, affiliated with the Coinbase- and Ripple Labs-backed group Fairshake, reported spending $11.4 million on media supporting Husted and opposing Brown’s potential return to the Senate. The ad buys appeared to be part of Fairshake’s pledge to initially spend $30 million in the Ohio race in an attempt to block Brown, who was previously chair of the Senate Banking Committee and one of the more outspoken voices in Congress against pro-crypto legislation and policies.
Sept. 24 filing from Defend American Jobs PAC. Source: FEC
Cointelegraph reached out to Brown’s campaign for comment but did not receive an immediate response. Amy Natoce, a spokesperson for Husted’s campaign, told Cointelegraph that the Democratic candidate faced an “onslaught of ads coming his way“ and “Ohioans already fired Sherrod Brown once.“
In an August 2025 inquiry following the launch of his Senate race, Brown told Cointelegraph:
“Cryptocurrency is a part of America’s economy, and becoming more commonplace in Ohio and throughout the country. Just like what guides all my work, my goal is to make sure that as more people use cryptocurrency, it expands opportunity and lifts up Ohioans and they are not put at risk.”
In 2024, the Ohio Senate race between Brown, then an incumbent, and Republican Bernie Moreno resulted in more than $300 million in spending from outside groups like Fairshake. FEC records showed that the crypto-aligned PAC and its affiliates alone spent about $41 million to oppose Brown and support Moreno. The Republican won the election with 50.2% of the vote to Brown’s 46.4%.
Related: US midterm election mirrors 2024 as crypto PACs move into Ohio races
Husted was appointed to his seat in the Senate by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine after it was vacated by then-Senator JD Vance, who was elected US vice president in 2024.
Who else is the crypto industry supporting in Ohio politics?
Vivek Ramaswamy, a co-founder of the digital asset management company Strive, ran as a Republican in the 2024 US presidential election and often spoke favorably about crypto and blockchain. He did not serve in the Trump administration; instead, shortly after the president’s 2025 inauguration, he announced plans to run for governor of Ohio and won the Republican nomination in May 2026. He will face off against Democrat Amy Acton in November.
As a gubernatorial candidate, the Republican has financial support from three co-founders of the Trump family’s crypto company, World Liberty Financial: Chase Herro, Zak Folkman and Zachary Witkoff, all of whom donated the maximum amount of $16,615 each to Ramaswamy’s campaign. His PAC, “V-PAC: Victors, Not Victims,” also included donations totaling $20 million from Susquehanna International Group co-founder Jeff Yass, $6 million from NYDIG founder Ross Stevens and $5,000 from the Bitcoin Voter Project.
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