Protect Progress spent $7.8M to unseat anti-crypto Rep. Al Green. Menefee's win shows crypto PACs can flip primary seats. Next test: November general election.
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Pro-crypto Democrat Christian Menefee defeated longtime Representative Al Green in the Democratic primary runoff for Texas' 18th Congressional District. The Associated Press called the race shortly after polls closed on May 26, ending Green's two-decade tenure and putting Menefee in position for the November election against Republican nominee Ronald Whitfield.
Menefee had already won a special election earlier this year to fill the seat left vacant after former Representative Sylvester Turner's death. Green entered the race after Texas lawmakers redrew his old district, setting up a direct clash that became a proving ground for crypto-funded political intervention.
Protect Progress, a super PAC linked to the Fairshake network, spent $5 million supporting Menefee and $2.8 million opposing Green before the runoff. The combined $7.8 million made the Houston race one of the most expensive primary contests in the 2026 cycle and the clearest early test of crypto political power.
Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter said the result validated the strategy.
"Fairshake was the difference-maker in this race."
Vetter added that Green's defeat showed anti-crypto positions can carry electoral costs. The super PAC's cash deployment targeted a district where the incumbent had a clear voting record against digital asset legislation, making the contrast easy to communicate to primary voters.
Fairshake reported $193 million in cash on hand heading into 2026, according to crypto.news. That war chest gives the network capacity to replicate the Texas playbook in other primaries where candidates hold opposing views on crypto policy. The Menefee-Green race offers a template: spend heavily on advertising that ties the incumbent's voting record to a specific policy stance, then point to the outcome as proof of concept.
Green voted against three bills that crypto policy groups consider priority legislation:
Stand With Crypto, the advocacy group that rates lawmakers on digital asset support, gives Green an F rating. The group lists those three votes plus other crypto-related measures as the basis for the grade.
The CLARITY Act faces a tight legislative calendar before the 2026 midterms, as crypto.news reported. Treasury rulemaking under the GENIUS Act has already moved stablecoin oversight deeper into federal compliance work. Green's opposition to both bills gave Protect Progress a concrete, vote-based attack line that primary voters could understand without crypto expertise.
FIT21 passed the House in 2024 with bipartisan support and stalled in the Senate. Green's vote against it placed him on the same side as the most vocal anti-crypto Democrats, including Senator Elizabeth Warren. That alignment became a vulnerability in a district where Menefee positioned himself as a pro-innovation alternative.
Stand With Crypto gives Menefee an A rating and says he strongly supports crypto. The group lists his positions as backing clear rules for digital asset businesses, self-custody rights, and clearer definitions for whether assets are securities or commodities.
Menefee's campaign website says blockchain can increase trust, transparency, and efficiency in areas such as finance and supply chains. The language is broad signals openness to industry-friendly regulation, a contrast with Green's record.
The rating gap – A for Menefee versus F for Green – gave Protect Progress a simple narrative: one candidate supports the industry, the other opposes it. In a low-turnout primary runoff, that framing can swing enough votes to decide the race.
The Texas result does not settle the national crypto policy debate. It does establish a precedent. Crypto-funded groups can spend heavily in party primaries and point to clear results when candidates take sharply different positions on digital assets.
Fairshake's $193 million cash position means the network can target multiple races simultaneously. The primary calendar for 2026 includes several districts where incumbents hold F ratings from Stand With Crypto. The Menefee-Green outcome will likely accelerate spending in those races.
The race also follows wider debate over Democrats and crypto. Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham called Senator Warren's anti-crypto stance a political mistake for Democrats, as crypto.news reported. Menefee's win gives that argument a concrete data point: a pro-crypto Democrat defeated an anti-crypto Democrat in a primary, suggesting the issue can move votes within the party.
For traders and investors watching crypto market analysis, the signal is directional not decisive. Crypto political spending is now a proven primary weapon. Whether that translates into legislative progress depends on the general election results and the broader congressional math. The next test comes in November, when Menefee faces Whitfield in a district that leans Democratic. A win would give the industry a reliable ally in the House. A loss would raise questions about whether primary spending can survive general election scrutiny.
What this means: The Texas runoff shows that crypto PACs can flip seats in low-turnout primaries by focusing on voting records. The same playbook will be tested in other districts. The 2026 midterms will reveal whether the strategy scales beyond a single race.
Prepared with AlphaScala research tooling and grounded in primary market data: live prices, fundamentals, SEC filings, hedge-fund holdings, and insider activity. Each story is checked against AlphaScala publishing rules before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.