USDStand With Crypto Backs 32 House Candidates Ahead of Midterms
Crypto advocacy group expands bipartisan election push as CLARITY Act fight moves toward Senate
TL;DR
- Stand With Crypto endorsed 32 U.S. House candidates it considers pro-crypto and plans additional Senate and non-incumbent picks closer to the general election.
- The endorsements span both parties and include lawmakers positioned to influence financial services, agriculture, tax and digital-asset legislation.
- Fairshake says it has $122 million available for the fall campaign as the industry also focuses on the next CLARITY Act vote.
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Stand With Crypto on August 24, 2026, endorsed 32 U.S. House candidates it considers pro-crypto, expanding its bipartisan political campaign ahead of the midterm elections. The Coinbase-backed advocacy group said it plans to announce Senate endorsements and candidates who are not incumbents closer to the general election, while continuing to grade lawmakers on their crypto positions and legislative records.
Stand With Crypto has built an online U.S. membership of more than 3 million people and collected millions of member email addresses as it seeks to organize crypto-focused voters into a political constituency. Over the previous year, the group launched a voter hub that grades lawmakers according to their positions on crypto and had already endorsed a separate slate of six bipartisan candidates ahead of November.
“The midterms come at a key inflection point for crypto policy in Washington, D.C.,” Stand With Crypto Executive Director Mason Lynaugh said. “As candidates from both parties are trying to reach voters outside of more traditional constituencies, they overlook crypto voters at their own peril.”
Endorsements Target Lawmakers With Crypto Policy Roles
The latest slate includes Republicans and Democrats who hold positions on congressional committees expected to handle digital-asset policy, including the House Ways and Means Committee and panels overseeing financial services and agriculture. Among those backed are House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson and Bryan Steil, the Republican who leads the digital-assets subcommittee within the House Financial Services Committee.
Stand With Crypto is also supporting Democrats positioned to play larger committee roles if their party gains control of the House. Jim Costa, a senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, is among the endorsed lawmakers and could contend for the committee chairmanship under Democratic control.
Several endorsements also go to lawmakers with direct records on crypto legislation. Nevada Democrat Steven Horsford introduced the bipartisan Digital Asset Protection, Accountability, Regulation, Innovation, Taxation, and Yields Act, or PARITY Act, this year. Michigan Republican Bill Huizenga cosponsored the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act and the House’s Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
Ohio Republican Warren Davidson introduced the Bitcoin for America Act in 2025. New York Democrat Ritchie Torres, a frequent crypto advocate, reintroduced the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act that same year alongside Republican Emmer. Davidson and Torres are among the House candidates specifically identified in Stand With Crypto’s current endorsement effort.
The endorsements themselves do not carry campaign contributions. Candidates receiving strong marks from Stand With Crypto, however, have also received financial backing elsewhere in the crypto industry’s political network, including from the Fairshake super PAC and its affiliates.
Fairshake Builds Election War Chest
Crypto political spending played a significant role during the 2024 elections. Fairshake spent $12 million in Ohio supporting crypto-friendly Republican Bernie Moreno, who defeated crypto critic and former Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown. Political money began ramping up again in April to support Republican Sen. Jon Husted, who is set to face Brown in November.
Fairshake says its primary-election spending has already funded supportive advertisements for 49 candidates who won their races. Fairshake spokesman Geoff Vetter said the super PAC is preparing to remain active through the general election.
“With dozens of wins in House and Senate races across the country, and $122 million ready for the fall, we're not slowing down heading into November,” Vetter said.
Stand With Crypto’s election activity runs alongside its effort to track lawmakers’ positions on the CLARITY Act, a proposed federal crypto market-structure framework. Lynaugh said in May that a Senate floor vote on the legislation “will be the most important vote that lawmakers have ever taken as it pertains to crypto.”
CLARITY Act Faces Senate Vote and Ethics Dispute
The next CLARITY Act action is scheduled for September 15, shortly after lawmakers return from their month-long August recess. The procedural vote will go before the full Senate, where the legislation did not appear to have the necessary 60 votes to advance to an actual vote as of the endorsement announcement.
Negotiations have encountered disputes over stablecoin rewards between banks and crypto companies, illicit-finance concerns and President Donald Trump’s growing crypto wealth. His interests tied to World Liberty Financial and his official memecoin were described as having grown to hundreds of millions of dollars, making presidential financial conflicts part of the market-structure debate.
Trump agreed in July to an ethics provision barring public officials and their spouses from issuing or sponsoring digital assets. Democrats criticized the provision because enforcement would be limited to the Justice Department. Sens. Ruben Gallego and Thom Tillis proposed expanding enforcement authority to state attorneys general, but that proposal had not received Trump’s approval.
Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, one of the bill’s lead negotiators, called on August 23 for an enforceable ethics provision and cited polling showing that 63% of Americans believe Trump’s crypto profits are inappropriate.
“We can pass smart, clear rules for digital assets and shut down presidential self-dealing at the same time,” Gillibrand said. “There must be an enforceable ban, and any market structure bill that leaves enforcement solely in the hands of the president’s own Justice Department and allows him to profit from crypto isn’t a reform.”
“It’s a permission slip,” she added.
This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.
