By Hannah Lang
Aug 24 (Reuters) – Stand With Crypto, an advocacy group backed by crypto giant Coinbase, on Monday endorsed 32 incumbent congressional candidates for the November midterm elections, as the industry cements influence in Washington.
The endorsements, first reported by Reuters, come as the Clarity Act, the crypto industry’s top policy priority, stalls in the Senate amid opposition from some lawmakers. All the candidates endorsed voted last year to pass the bill out of the House of Representatives, and Stand With Crypto hopes to return those industry-friendly candidates to office. Crypto companies say the legislation would give them long-sought legal clarity.
Stand With Crypto’s 2026 campaign builds on its 2024 effort, the first cycle that the group was active, Mason Lynaugh, executive director of Stand With Crypto, said in an interview.
“In 2024 we were very much proving that the crypto voter is real. In 2026 we’re very much showing that we have the organizing capacity and that our advocates are a true voting bloc that can move the needle,” said Lynaugh.
Coinbase launched Stand With Crypto in 2023 to jumpstart a grassroots advocacy campaign with the goal of advancing pro-crypto legislation. It aims to influence elections by organizing and mobilizing voters rather than through large campaign expenditures.
It says it has more than 3 million registered U.S. “advocates.”
Stand With Crypto endorsed six congressional candidates in March who are running for reelection. Among the new raft of 32 endorsees are some of the industry’s key House allies, including Republicans Tom Emmer, and Bill Huizenga, and Democrats Ritchie Torres and Josh Gottheimer.
Several of the 32 are running in competitive races, like Arizona Republican Juan Ciscomani and Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick.
“I think we can be the difference maker in some of these,” Lynaugh said. The group said it will announce its Senate endorsements closer to Election Day.
The crypto industry spent $170 million supporting congressional candidates during the 2024 elections, many of whom won their races. That helped it score a victory last year when Congress passed the Genius Act, which created rules for dollar-backed crypto tokens called stablecoins, potentially boosting their adoption.
The sector has already poured close to $200 million into the November midterm elections, underscoring its muscle in Congress. Much of that has been directed through Fairshake, a major super political action committee created to support pro-crypto candidates.
(Reporting by Hannah Lang in New York; editing by Michelle Price and Alistair Bell)
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