Republican supported by crypto Super PAC loses Arizona primary

Blake Masters, a Republican candidate for the United States House of Representatives in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, lost his party’s primary.

According to results released by the Associated Press on July 31, Abraham Hamadeh defeated Masters in the Republican primary with 29.8% of the vote. In the leadup to the primary, the Defend American Jobs Super political action committee (PAC), an affiliate of the Fairshake and Protect Progress PACs, disseminated roughly $600,000 in a media buy to support Masters.

In a statement on X following the announcement, Masters accepted the primary results, saying he “can’t cry over spilt milk” and called on his followers to support Hamadeh in November. In May, the Republican candidate said he would be “the biggest champion of crypto DC has ever seen” if elected.

“Obviously, this was not the result we wanted,” said Masters. “But we fought hard under tough circumstances.”

Possible win in 3rd District?

Fairshake and its affiliates have spent more than $2 million to support candidates in three Arizona congressional races, including roughly $600,000 for Masters, $1.3 million for Democrat Yassamin Ansari for the state’s 3rd Congressional District, and $400,000 for Democrat Andrei Cherny for the 1st District. Ansari’s and Cherny’s results have yet to be finalized at the time of publication. As of July 31, Ansari was leading in the 3rd with roughly 46% of the vote.

Ansari suggested she would support pro-crypto legislation if elected to Congress in her answers to Coinbase’s Stand With Crypto questionnaire. Her campaign website said she supported “lead[ing] the way in the blockchain and crypto innovation.” 

In contrast, Stand With Crypto rated Ansari’s opponent, Raquel Terán, as “neutral” on crypto policy in the US, but her campaign website stated she supported “collaborative approaches to studying blockchain and crypto innovation.” Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has often associated digital assets with illicit activities, endorsed Terán in July.

California Representative Linda Sánchez reportedly called Protect Progress’ support of Ansari as a means “to buy a seat in Congress” and subvert democracy. Fairshake and its affiliates have funded attack ads against candidates in New York and California, seemingly either in support of more “pro-crypto” politicians or to harm the campaigns of “anti-crypto” ones.

Ruben Gallego, the current US lawmaker representing Arizona’s 3rd District, announced in January that he intended to run for the Senate to replace Kyrsten Sinema, who ran as a Democrat in 2018 but has since changed her party affiliation to an Independent. He ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and will face off against Republican Kari Lake in November.

Protect Progress spent roughly $3.7 million to support Democratic candidates in Texas and Alabama who won their April primaries. As of July, Fairshake had reportedly raised more than $202 million, but FEC records suggest that some of the contributions made in cryptocurrency could have been counted twice.