Mid-election campaigns this year have brought in the largest crypto funding community PAC backed by crypto millionaire and founder of FTX, Bankman-Fried who poured almost $11 million on Carrick Flynn for Oregon’s primary race cycle, making it the most expensive house to be spent on. Overall, Protect Our Future PAC has spent over $22 million on candidates from seven states based on a Federal Election Commission filing.
Cryptocurrency has now become more than just a digital industry. It is now a force that pushes politicians to win the elections for the sake of the development of crypto in the country. The American Blockchain Political Action Committee (PAC) was built with a vision to back politicians through various funding projects to win the elections.
Recently, a super PAC group led by crypto millionaire Bankman-Fried called Protect Our Future spent more than $11M on Democrat Carrick Flynn to win the elections in the Oregon primary House cycle. As the crypto market sees a constant bearish pattern, the super PAC wanted to flex its power in the traditional politics by bringing in Carrick Flynn. PAC spent all its money on advertising from GOTV calls, mailers, TV commercials, and radio, to banners in favor of Flynn.
Seeing the large spending on Flynn, many progressive groups came forward to criticize the biggest spending of Oregon’s House. The groups also condemned the super PAC for choosing a politically inexperienced white man over experienced women of color, to which many PAC supporters argued that the committee has supported women of color from other states including Foushee, Crockett, Black, and McBath.
The super PAC continued its campaign in favor of Flynn while attacking his opponent through advertisements. According to an FEC filing, the super PAC spent over $930,000 to promote attack ads against Andrea Salinas, the first Congress Latina in Oregon elections.
To which Salinas responded by saying, “Let’s be clear about what’s happening here: An out-of-state crypto-currency billionaire who has already spent over $10 million trying to buy this election for Carrick Flynn, an unqualified candidate who didn’t even vote for President Biden against Donald Trump, is now spending almost a million dollars fueling false attacks against me.
She also said, “I know Sixth District voters want a progressive champion who has delivered on the issues that matter most to them, not a phantom candidate who is being propped up by an out-of-state billionaire.”
The ads were quite provocative and many believe this is the first time PAC ever used campaigns to attack opposing candidates in this cycle. Before Flynn, PAC spent millions to back Jasmine Crockett in Texas and Rep. Lucy McBath in Georgia; however, Flynn’s campaigns mark the biggest spend ever done in Oregon by PAC.
Salinas overtakes Flynn
Despite millions of dollars spent in the campaign of Democrat Flynn, Salinas seems to be leading the elections. The latest poll was done by Public Policy Polling show Salinas leading with Flynn trailing behind by 41% to 19% while others are in single digit figures.
This huge gap between Salinas and Flynn shows that despite hatred and attacks sent on her way by the super PAC’s ads, she still managed to win the hearts of people.
Seeing no apparent improvements in Flynn’s position, the Democrat admitted his defeat by congratulating Salinas on her win. In a statement, he said, “Obviously, these are not the results we were hoping to see tonight. I congratulate state Rep. Andrea Salinas on her victory and offer my full support. I will absolutely be out there knocking on doors and calling voters as a volunteer for her campaign.”
Why is the crypto community backing elections?
The Crypto community’s involvement in America’s mid elections has become a hot topic around the world. Ever since the court allowed the crypto community to form PAC as a force to back politicians in favor of the development of Web3 and the crypto industry, many big figures of the industry have been involved in backing election campaigns.
Other than Protect Our Future PAC, there have been other groups like GMI PAC and HODLpac that were involved in backing politicians in various states.
Besides empowering the cryptocurrency industry, the crypto crash is also a big factor in the crypto community’s involvement in America’s elections. The investors are trying to flex their political influence through these backing campaigns.
As the executive director of the Blockchain Association, Kristin Smith said, “The crypto industry is proud to support elected officials who believe in the true potential of the crypto economy in the U.S. And we’re not shy, as an industry, to say and support what we value, and that includes political giving.”
The crypto community hopes to score wins from politicians who will work to further the crypto planning and improve policies in favor of the investors. The billionaire Bankman-Fried says that PAC would continue supporting candidates “who take a long-term view on policy planning” to recover from the pandemic crisis in America.
