The crypto PAC spends $514,000 backing Indiana primary candidate story moved Saturday when Defend American Jobs filed its Federal Election Commission report. The money went toward media buys supporting James Baird, the Republican incumbent running for reelection in Indiana’s 4th Congressional District. Primary vote is today.
Baird has been in the House since January 2019. He voted for the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin payments bill, and the CLARITY Act. Stand With Crypto, the Coinbase-aligned advocacy group, rates him strongly supportive on digital assets.
Crypto PAC spends across the midterms
Defend American Jobs is the Republican-focused arm of Fairshake, the broader crypto-backed political action committee that also operates Protect Progress on the Democratic side. The outfit has been filing support buys across contested races this cycle. The Indiana spend is one piece of a national strategy targeting House and Senate seats.
| State | Race Type | Spend Disclosed |
|---|---|---|
| Indiana | House (4th District) | $514,000 |
| Illinois | Governor, Senate, House | $8.6 million |
| Texas | Senate, House | $1+ million |
Fairshake reported $193 million on hand as of January. In 2024 it spent over $130 million on media, including $40 million in Ohio’s Senate race, where the Republican challenger unseated three-term Democrat Sherrod Brown. Brown is running again this year, trying to take back the seat now held by Jon Husted, who was appointed after JD Vance moved to the vice presidency.
The Indiana race and today’s primary
Baird is running against Craig Haggard, a state representative. The contest is the first big test of crypto PAC spending in a midterm primary this cycle.
The digital asset lobby has made no secret of the strategy: support candidates who backed the legislation, oppose those who voted against it or stayed quiet. Fairshake’s backers include Coinbase and Ripple Labs. The money is flowing into races where crypto was not even a top-line issue six months ago.
Where the CLARITY Act sits
The House passed the CLARITY Act in July 2025. The bill has been stalled in the Senate since. Concerns over ethics provisions and stablecoin yield structures have kept it stuck in committee. Lawmakers announced a compromise last week, and the US Senate is expected to schedule a markup.
If that markup happens, the bill moves. If it does not, the digital asset market structure question stays unresolved through the November midterms, when all 435 House seats and 33 Senate seats are up for election.
The electoral arithmetic
The crypto PAC spends $514,000 in Indiana while sitting on nearly $200 million nationally. The money is being deployed in primaries first, shaping the field before the general. Illinois, Texas, and now Indiana have seen major buys. More filings are expected as other states hold their primaries over the next three months.
The 2024 cycle showed the model works in tight races. Whether it scales across dozens of contested House seats and a handful of Senate battlegrounds is the question being answered in real time this year.
Next gate: today’s Indiana primary result, and whether Baird holds his seat. If he does, the crypto PAC spends $514,000 successfully. If he does not, the narrative shifts fast.
This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Readers should not act on any information contained here without first consulting an authorised financial adviser. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
