regulation
Democrats take Senate, House; crypto PACs lose Ohio and Illinois
Fairshake and allied crypto PACs spent about $176M on 2026 midterm races and lost two of the biggest, including the $63M push to beat Sherrod Brown.
Democrats took back the Senate and the House in the November 3 US midterm elections, and crypto's two largest PACs — Fairshake and the Digital Freedom Fund — came out of the night having lost both of the top races they spent heavily to swing. The CLARITY Act, the market-structure bill the industry has been pushing for a year, is still stalled on the Senate floor after a failed procedural vote; incoming Senate Banking chair Elizabeth Warren will inherit the committee that controls its path.
What happened
Prediction markets had the Democratic Senate at 98% and the House at 100% as of the live tally in CoinDesk's election blog. Called seats included Roy Cooper flipping North Carolina, James Talarico taking Ken Paxton's Texas race for John Cornyn's old seat, Annie Andrews flipping South Carolina, and Jon Ossoff holding Georgia. Troy Jackson flipped Maine, defeating Susan Collins. In Ohio, Sherrod Brown — the former Banking chair unseated in 2024 — beat Republican Jon Husted by roughly 59-38 with a third counted.
In the House, Democrats had flipped four seats by 10:30 p.m. ET. House Financial Services chair French Hill (R-Ark.) trailed Democrat Chris Jones with just over a third of ballots reported.
Crypto PAC scorecard
Fairshake and the Digital Freedom Fund, plus the Fellowship Fund tied to Cantor Fitzgerald and Tether, spent about $176M across dozens of races, per CoinDesk's reporting. Of that:
- Ohio: ~$63M+ opposing Brown. Brown won.
- Illinois: Fairshake spent over $10M against Juliana Stratton in the primary. Stratton won the general.
- Texas: Fellowship Fund gave $3.8M backing Paxton in the primary. Paxton lost; Digital Freedom Fund then spent ~$560k, about two-thirds opposing winner Talarico.
- Iowa: Digital Freedom Fund gave $400k to Ashley Hinson. Hinson lost to Josh Turek.
About $75M went to the two races the PACs lost outright (Ohio and Illinois). Fairshake-backed Republicans held Alabama (Barry Moore), Kentucky (Andy Barr for McConnell's seat), Wyoming (Harriet Hageman for Lummis's seat), and Tennessee (GENIUS Act sponsor Bill Hagerty). Nebraska's Pete Ricketts was in a near-tie with independent Dan Osborn at press time.
CLARITY Act — still on the floor
The Defiant reports the market-structure bill is awaiting floor action after a failed procedural vote. With Democrats in the majority, Senate Banking will be run by Elizabeth Warren, and the committee's agenda will shift from the industry-friendly markup the GOP had planned to one centered on stablecoin oversight, mixer compliance, and the exchanges' custody arrangements. Nothing automatic puts CLARITY on a different timeline from the one it was already on — a bill without 60 votes does not move because the majority changed hands.
Markets
Bitcoin fell below $76,000 during the count — its lowest since September 15 — then recovered to around $77,400–$77,700 as House results firmed up, per CoinDesk's live numbers. The TRUMP token fell over 5% to near $1.50. These are reported as price context, not as a forecast.
What to watch
- Whether the lame-duck Senate brings CLARITY back up before the new Congress is seated — the current whip count has not changed, only the floor time available.
- Warren's first Banking hearing, and whether the stablecoin rulemakings OCC and SEC staff have been working toward get paused, rewritten, or published as proposed.
- Hyperliquid, Polymarket and offshore perpetuals venues — Democratic wins typically bring a tougher posture on offshore derivatives access by US persons. The White House has already signaled interest in Hyperliquid's growth.
- Whether Fairshake pivots messaging and targets ahead of 2028 after losing its two highest-profile races; the PAC's October filings are the next concrete signal.
Context
The two 2024 crypto-PAC victories against incumbent Democrats — the Brown and Bob Casey races — were the industry's political proof of concept. 2026 reversed both the Senate math and the signal: Brown is back, and the PACs spent nine figures without flipping the chamber. Fairshake's prior wins came in open primaries and in the 2022 and 2024 environments. The 2026 book of results is the first post-GENIUS, post-FIT21 cycle that was fought on the industry's name.