Illinois Lieutenant Governor and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Julianna Stratton speaks at a primary election night event on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Christopher Dilts | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A major cryptocurrency PAC was dealt a blow after the Illinois Senate Democratic candidate it spent millions of dollars against won Tuesday’s primary and is likely to take office next year.
fair shake, sponsored coinbaseRipple Labs and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz spent more than $10 million on ads against Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Stratton received an “F” rating from Stand With Crypto, which slammed “MAGA-backed crypto cronies” who were funding ads against her on social media. Stratton is almost certain to become the next Illinois state senator in the Democratic-leaning state in November.
The other candidate Fairshake had opposed, La’Shawn Ford, also won the primary and became the Democratic nominee for Illinois’ 7th Congressional District. The district is heavily Democratic, and Ford is on track to enter Congress.
But Fairshake also won three games at the lower level in Illinois. The group supported Democratic Reps. Nikki Budzinski and Melissa Bean, who won their respective primaries in the Deep Blue Congressional District. Fairshake is also running for Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District, running against Robert Peters, who lost to Donna Miller.
This result shows the limits of funneling money into politics as a means to advance industry agendas. FairShake calls for a regulatory structure that favors emerging industries.
Like FairShake, AI industry PACs have also achieved some victories in congressional primaries. This could create new lawmakers who are favorable to, or lacking in, the regulations that crypto and AI companies seek.
AI PAC Leading the Future also endorsed Bean’s winning campaign. However, the group supported Jesse Jackson Jr., who lost the primary election for Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District.
The group’s donors include Andreessen Horowitz, Open AI co-founder Greg Brockman, Palantir Co-founder Joe Lonsdale, SV Angel founder Ron Conway, and AI software company Perplexity.
The Illinois primary is not the first race in which an AI-affiliated super PAC has funneled money.
Leading the Future has backed Republican primary winner and former Defense Department official Laurie Buckhout in a battleground state as she seeks to flip North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District. The group also spent $5 million on four Republican House primaries in Texas, where all of its preferred candidates either won their primaries or advanced to runoffs.
Rival PAC network Public First Action, which counts Anthropic as one of its major donors, also jumped into the early primaries, supporting Democratic Rep. Valerie Fouchey in defeating a progressive challenger in North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District and supporting several pro-regulation candidates from both parties in the Texas primary.
—CNBC’s Caleigh Keating contributed to this article.
