Fairshake's Protect Progress PAC spent over $2M supporting Rep. Thanedar and opposing his challenger. Michigan's Tuesday primary tests crypto's 2026 influence.
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The Protect Progress PAC, an affiliate of the pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake, has poured additional money into Michigan's 13th congressional district primary. The group is backing incumbent Representative Shri Thanedar and opposing his Democratic challenger Donavan McKinney.
Federal Election Commission filings from Thursday show the PAC spent more than $2 million combined on media supporting Thanedar and opposing McKinney. The latest filings nearly doubled the amount reported a week earlier, adding $884,240 for Thanedar and over $150,000 against McKinney.
Thanedar voted for the GENIUS Act stablecoin bill and the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, the crypto market structure bill pending in the Senate. He also cosponsored a bill aimed at protecting blockchain developers. McKinney responded in a July 21 statement, saying "the crypto lobby is paying my opponent back for helping Trump make over $1 billion since taking office." McKinney's remark appeared to reference Trump's disclosure of earning over $1.4 billion from crypto investments, including his memecoin Official Trump and World Liberty Financial.
Protect Progress is a Fairshake affiliate. Fairshake spent over $170 million in the 2024 election cycle and reported a $193 million war chest as of January. In the 2026 cycle, Fairshake and its affiliates have accounted for more than $82 million of the roughly $189 million spent by crypto companies, according to a June report from Public Citizen.
The PAC has already spent on races in Texas and Illinois. In Washington's 4th district, the Defend American Jobs PAC, another Fairshake affiliate, spent over $65,000 supporting a Republican candidate. Washington holds primaries on the same day as Michigan. Alabama's primaries on Aug. 11 have also drawn Fairshake spending: Defend American Jobs put over $511,000 behind Jerry Carl Jr., a former Alabama representative whose net worth reached $15 million in 2023.
Michigan's primary is Tuesday.
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