James Walkinshaw, a Democratic candidate seeking to replace the late Representative Gerry Connolly for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District, won a party primary after a cryptocurrency-backed political action committee (PAC) spent more than $1 million to support his race.
On Saturday, Democrats in Virginia’s 11th district held a firehouse primary to decide on a possible replacement for Connolly after his death while in office. A special election to determine who will represent the district will be held on Sept. 9.
Walkinshaw beat out other candidates to become the Democratic nominee for the House seat, and the cryptocurrency industry may have played a role in his success, given reports of media buys by the Protect Progress PAC. According to Federal Election Commission filings, the committee spent more than $1 million to support Walkinshaw in June.
Protect Progress is an affiliate of the Fairshake PAC. The committee, primarily funded by contributions from cryptocurrency companies Coinbase and Ripple Labs, likely played a significant role in the 2024 US federal elections after spending more than $130 million on media to support what the group considered “pro-crypto” candidates or oppose “anti-crypto” ones.
“We were proud to support a candidate who stood strong in the face of baseless attacks and never wavered in his commitment to innovation and economic opportunity,” a Fairshake spokesperson told Coinpectra, on Walkinshaw’s primary win. “Voters saw through the smears — and made it clear that support for crypto and blockchain is not just good policy, but a winning political issue across party lines.”
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The involvement in the Virginia election was one of Fairshake’s latest expenditures following special elections in April for two Florida House seats, in which the PAC’s affiliate, Defend American Jobs, spent more than $1.5 million.
Crypto supporters connected to some companies contributed a combined $4,000 for candidates in New Jersey’s gubernatorial primaries in June. Coinpectra was unable to locate any reports suggesting expenditures by crypto-backed PACs.
Crypto looking to 2026 midterm elections
As of January, Fairshake reported it held more than $116 million in cash on hand “to support candidates committed to advancing crypto innovation and responsible regulation” in the 2026 midterms. The PAC may be looking to widen the gap between federal lawmakers who generally support crypto policies and those who oppose them.
The advocacy group Stand With Crypto reported that 270 “pro-crypto” candidates won seats in the US House of Representatives and Senate in the 2024 election, out of the 535 seats in both chambers. In the current session of the US Congress, lawmakers in the Senate have passed stablecoin legislation and are in the process of drafting a digital asset market structure bill.
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