Protect Progress, linked to Fairshake and backed by Coinbase and Ripple, has now spent over $2 million backing Thanedar and opposing McKinney. The Aug. 4 primary is days away.
A super PAC with deep ties to the crypto industry has crossed $2 million in spending inside a single Michigan congressional district with days to go before the Aug. 4 Democratic primary.
Protect Progress, part of the Fairshake network, is backing incumbent Shri Thanedar in Michigan's 13th Congressional District while spending to defeat his challenger Donavan McKinney. Federal Election Commission filings released just before the primary show an additional $884,240 in media buys supporting Thanedar and more than $150,000 aimed at opposing McKinney. The new filings roughly double the PAC's footprint in the district within a week.
McKinney's own campaign had disbursed $1.23 million as of mid-July. The outside spending by Protect Progress alone has already eclipsed what the challenger spent running his entire operation. Different reporting periods and activity types make the comparison imperfect, the gap is hard to ignore.
Thanedar supported both the GENIUS Act and the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. He said those bills would bring cleaner regulations and stronger consumer protections for digital assets. Protect Progress generally backs candidates who favor digital asset legislation, though it hasn't publicly tied any specific expenditure to a specific vote.
McKinney has called out Thanedar for taking support from what he calls the "crypto lobby," framing it as a reward for votes aligned with Donald Trump's digital asset agenda. FEC records confirm the independent expenditures. Those same records don't back up McKinney's claim of coordination between the PAC and Thanedar's campaign. No evidence of that has surfaced.
Michigan's 13th isn't an isolated play. Fairshake-linked groups have collectively spent over $82 million during the 2026 election cycle, per watchdog group Public Citizen. That sits inside a broader figure: Public Citizen estimates crypto companies have contributed roughly $189 million across various races in the cycle. Those are the watchdog's numbers, not an official FEC finding.
The strategy is consistent across races: find candidates friendly to digital asset legislation, spend heavily to get them through primaries, and build a more crypto-sympathetic Congress. Protect Progress's Michigan spending fits that mold.
As of July 31, more than 1.03 million Michigan residents had already cast ballots, with early voting running through Aug. 2. Turnout that high before primary day suggests voters are engaged, though whether that engagement breaks for or against the candidate with PAC backing is unclear.
Not all of Protect Progress's last-minute buys may show up immediately in the FEC's independent expenditure table. The agency excludes certain notices from that database, so the full financial picture in Michigan might not be visible until post-election amendments and disclosures come through. More filings are expected after the official canvass confirms the Democratic nominee.
No notable reaction from crypto markets has been tied to the Michigan race. A single House primary, even a well-funded one, isn't the kind of event that moves Bitcoin prices. Industry stakeholders have been watching quietly.
If Thanedar wins, it will be read as a validation of the Fairshake model – spend big in primaries, shape the field before the general election even starts. If McKinney pulls off an upset despite the financial disparity, it complicates that playbook in ways the industry probably doesn't want to think about right now.
The FEC will keep releasing data. Amendments will follow. The final tally of what Protect Progress actually dropped in Michigan's 13th will probably look different once all the late-cycle notices get processed. Likely higher.
Over $82 million from Fairshake-linked groups. Roughly $189 million from the broader crypto industry, per Public Citizen. And more than $2 million of it landed in one congressional district in Michigan.
Protect Progress is a super PAC affiliated with the Fairshake network, which has received substantial funding from crypto companies including Coinbase and Ripple. It operates as an independent expenditure-only committee registered with the FEC.
Per watchdog group Public Citizen, crypto companies contributed roughly $189 million across various races in the 2026 cycle, with Fairshake-linked groups accounting for over $82 million of that total.
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