A rare setback for crypto’s midterm machine
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With help from Alex Gangitano
The crypto industry suffered a rare defeat last night in Florida after spending $2 million in an unsuccessful bid to defeat Miami-Dade County Commissioner Oliver Gilbert in the Democratic primary to succeed outgoing Rep. Frederica Wilson, Jacob reports.
— Pro-crypto PAC network Fairshake, funded in large part by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and crypto companies Coinbase and Ripple, has spent millions this year supporting candidates it sees as more friendly to the industry. The PAC has had a stunning winning streak so far, largely by placing bets in safe races, but it’s hit a few setbacks, including in Illinois’ Democratic Senate primary in March.
— “Fairshake has won 49 of the 53 races we’ve engaged in this year, including four of five last night, and we’re just getting started building the largest pro-crypto Congress in history,” Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter told PI in a statement.
— Fairshake jumped into the Florida race by boosting two of Gilbert’s Democratic opponents: state Sen. Shevrin Jones, who has said he supports “cryptocurrency and blockchain innovation,” and attorney Kendrick Meek Jr., whose father is a former member of Congress with ties to Coinbase. But the spending failed to overcome Gilbert’s stronger fundraising haul and the endorsement he won from Wilson, who has held the deep-blue seat for over a decade.
— “The tech industry — especially crypto and AI — has real problems with Democratic lawmakers and voters,” said Ben Pollara, a senior adviser for the Gilbert campaign. “Spending millions to firebomb safe Democratic seats is buying them neither votes in Congress nor goodwill from rank-and-file Democrats. As a political strategy, it is profoundly misguided.”
— The Florida primaries also drew attention from another major player in midterm spending: the artificial intelligence industry. AI industry super PAC networks Leading the Future and Public First Action both spent in favor of Rep. Byron Donalds in the Republican gubernatorial race — a rare instance of the rival networks backing the same candidate. LTF is backed by leaders at OpenAI and a16z, while Public First is tied to Anthropic, a major AI lab that has called for more regulation. Donalds handily defeated his primary opponents yesterday with the help of President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
— “Public First Action is glad to see leaders on AI regulation doing well with voters,” Public First spokesperson Anthony Rivera-Rodriguez told PI in a statement. “Byron Donalds, Ashley Moody, and Scott Singer are all forceful advocates for ensuring AI has real safeguards, and Florida voters rewarded them for it. What we’re seeing is real hunger for a strong position in favor of regulating AI, and candidates in both parties are starting to notice.”
— GOP strategist Zac Moffatt, who leads LTF alongside former Democratic aide Josh Vlasto, said in a statement that “Donalds has demonstrated a strong commitment to innovation, entrepreneurship, and policies that will help Florida lead the nation into the future.”
— Last night marked one of the final chances for super PACs to put their thumb on the scale in major primaries before November’s general elections, with only a handful of marquee races remaining. Both the crypto and AI industries have positioned themselves as major power players in this year’s midterms, with tens of millions more in cash on hand to unleash before November.
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THE GOP’S DATA CENTER WARNING: The GOP is warning artificial intelligence companies that the public backlash to data centers could hurt the party and backfire on industry, Jacob reports. In a private memo obtained by PI, the National Republican Senatorial Committee — the party’s Senate campaign arm — told top AI companies yesterday that the issue is putting Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) at risk of losing his tight reelection fight against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.
— “Data centers are, and should remain, a local decision,” Husted campaign spokesperson Amy Natoce said in a statement. “Every community has different priorities, and local leaders are best equipped to decide what’s right for their residents.”
— In the memo, which was first reported by Axios, the NRSC said Brown “has made his opposition to \[data centers\] the centerpiece of his campaign against Husted,” writing that the onus is on AI companies to do some messaging damage control. “If voters’ perceptions of data centers are not fixed quickly, the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio,” the memo reads.
— “Jon Husted led the charge to bring hundreds of data centers to Ohio and blamed families for skyrocketing utility rates that he caused,” Brown campaign manager Patrick Eisenhauer said in a statement. “Now, Husted is so worried about his toxic record that he is begging his special interest buddies and corporate friends to come and bail out his failing campaign. Ohioans — not Jon Husted and his billionaire friends — should get to decide if data centers are built in their community.”
— Across the country, AI labs and data center developers are struggling to deal with a growing populist backlash to the booming industry. A recent POLITICO poll found that more people now oppose data centers being built in their area than support them — a signal that tides are turning against the facilities.
WHO’S SPONSORING THE MIDTERM CONVENTION?: The host committee for the GOP’s first midterm convention in Dallas next month has raised $45 million from donors — but the party won’t say who’s behind the money, Jacob reports with our colleague Alex Gangitano.
— “The Dallas Host Committee is loaded with some of the most well connected philanthropic families in Dallas and complimented with an experienced fundraising team who knows how to raise money to support conventions,” former White House official Trent Morse, who’s on the host committee, told PI. He did not respond to questions about whether the host committee plans to disclose its donors.
— Lobbyists who spoke with PI said donating to or sponsoring the convention is politically risky for clients, who are bracing for an onslaught of oversight scrutiny on their ties to the Trump administration should Democrats retake power in November. One GOP lobbyist, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said corporate sponsors have been reticent to go all-in on the midterm convention without a Democratic equivalent to contribute to.
— “I can’t imagine that most corporations have the interest \[or\] the budget,” said a second GOP lobbyist, also granted anonymity to speak freely. “With the regular conventions, you can do some to both sides. What’s the equivalent here? Most Fortune 500 companies all have some kind of corporate rules around spending on this.”
— The haul was first reported by The Dallas Morning News.
— Lennart Heim has joined the OpenAI Foundation as director of AI Resources. He was previously at the RAND Center on AI, Security, and Technology and a fellow at GovAI.
— Monica Gille has joined NVIDIA as vice president for global partnerships and channels, where she’ll focus on accelerating the enterprise AI and software stack adoption. She previously spent more than 25 years at Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
— Clinton Oxford is now privacy and AI counsel at Hims & Hers Health. He was previously a senior associate for data, privacy and cybersecurity at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and is an FTC alum.
— Janel Thamkul is now a visiting fellow at the Institute for Law & AI. She was most recently deputy general counsel at Anthropic and is a Google alum.
— Brianna Robinson-Verloop is joining the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture as senior director of public policy. She was most recently director of animal and animal products at the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.
— Will Cocos has been promoted to EVP and general manager of Vantor’s U.S. government business. He was most recently chief transformation officer at Vantor and is a Comar and BCG alum.
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Standing for American Freedoms Leadership PAC (Leadership PAC: Mike Bouchard)
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