Voters in the US state of Virginia’s 11th congressional district will choose a replacement for late Representative Gerry Connolly in a special election that could be influenced by money from the cryptocurrency industry.
On Tuesday, Virginia residents who haven’t voted early head to the polls to decide whether to elect Democrat James Walkinshaw or Republican Stewart Whitson to replace Connolly following his death in May while serving in the US Congress.
While neither candidate appeared to have taken a strong position on digital assets or blockchain for the campaign, a cryptocurrency-backed political action committee (PAC) could still influence the outcome.
According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, the Protect Progress PAC, an affiliate of Fairshake, spent more than $1 million on media buys in June to support Walkinshaw in the Democratic Party’s primary.
FEC filings as of Tuesday suggested no other additional significant expenditures from the crypto industry, with Walkinshaw reporting more than $1 million in campaign contributions to Whitson’s roughly $224,000.
The Tuesday election could serve as a bellwether for how Fairshake and its affiliates intend to approach US elections in 2025 and beyond after spending more than $130 million to elect “pro-crypto” lawmakers or push out “anti-crypto” ones in 2024.
Cointelegraph reached out to Fairshake and Walkinshaw’s campaign for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Related: Crypto firms spent $134M on 2024 US elections, raising influence concerns
Many news outlets suggested Walkinshaw was favored to win against Whitson in the district, which is considered a Democratic stronghold.
Should he be victorious on Tuesday, the election would further narrow Republicans’ majority in the US House of Representatives, potentially requiring members to rely on Democratic support to pass legislation.
2025 elections potentially influenced by cryptocurrency
After its involvement in the 2024 elections, a Fairshake affiliate, Defend American Jobs, spent more than $1.5 million to support Republican candidates in elections for two Florida House seats. The candidates, Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine, both won their April elections.
It’s a similar story at the state and local levels. Individuals connected to some crypto companies contributed a combined $4,000 for candidates in New Jersey’s gubernatorial primaries in June.
Some significant players, like Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss, have also suggested they could get involved in the election for the next mayor of New York City, scheduled for November.
In a statement to Cointelegraph in July, a Fairshake spokesperson said the PAC couldn’t “directly” get involved in local and state-level elections in 2025. However, the committee reported in July that it held more than $141 million, which it intended to use in future US federal elections, including the 2026 midterms.
Should the PAC spend even more in 2026 than it did in 2024, there’s no telling what that could mean for party control of the House or Senate starting in 2027. Republicans, many of whom benefited from Fairshake’s expenditures, currently hold a slim majority in both chambers.
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