Crypto PAC spends $362K on California race already decided in August

Crypto PAC spends — A cryptocurrency-aligned political action committee has spent over $362,000 on ads supporting a Democratic candidate in a California congressional race that was effectively decided two months ago.

Protect Progress, an affiliate of the Fairshake super PAC, reported the expenditure to the Federal Election Commission on Sunday for media supporting incumbent Democrat Aisha Wahab in California’s 14th district. Wahab already defeated her opponent, fellow Democrat Melissa Hernandez, in a special election on August 18, winning more than 53% of the vote.

The spending raises questions about the strategy, as both candidates had previously been ranked as ‘strongly supports crypto’ by the digital asset organization Stand With Crypto. The special election was held to replace Democrat Eric Swalwell, who resigned in April.

Fairshake, backed largely by Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and Andreessen Horowitz, reported having $193 million in cash on hand earlier this year. The PAC has also recently reported spending millions more on Senate races in Ohio and Nebraska, supporting Republican candidates in those contests.