Defend American Jobs PAC Reports $11.4M Ohio Senate Spend in Bitcoin (BTC) Policy Fight

Defend American Jobs' $11.4M Filing

Defend American Jobs, a super PAC aligned with the cryptocurrency industry's Fairshake network, disclosed $11.4 million in media spending in Ohio's US Senate race, according to its filing with the Federal Election Commission. The FEC filing, dated Sept. 24, covers advertisements supporting Republican incumbent Jon Husted and opposing Democrat Sherrod Brown, who is seeking a return to the seat he held for nearly two decades. The buy appears to be the first tranche of a commitment by Fairshake, the Coinbase- and Ripple Labs-backed vehicle, which previously pledged an initial $30 million to the Ohio contest. The choice of target is deliberate: Brown chaired the Senate Banking Committee and built a record as one of the most consistent skeptics of pro-crypto legislation in Congress, making him the industry's highest-value defensive target in a state that has become the clearest test of digital-asset political muscle.

The $300M 2024 Blueprint

Ohio is familiar ground for this playbook. The 2024 Senate race between Brown, then the incumbent, and Republican Bernie Moreno drew more than $300 million from outside groups, with FEC records showing that Fairshake and its affiliates alone spent roughly $41 million to oppose Brown and back Moreno. Moreno won with 50.2% of the vote to Brown's 46.4%. Husted, the beneficiary of this cycle's ad blitz, was appointed to the seat by Governor Mike DeWine after JD Vance vacated it following his election as vice president in 2024. The 2026 ballot deepens the industry's footprint: Vivek Ramaswamy, the Strive co-founder who speaks favorably about digital assets, secured the Republican nomination for Ohio governor in May 2026 and will face Democrat Amy Acton in November. His campaign received maximum donations of $16,615 each from three World Liberty Financial co-founders — Chase Herro, Zak Folkman and Zachary Witkoff — while his PAC, V-PAC, listed committee records showing $20 million from Susquehanna International Group co-founder Jeff Yass, $6 million from NYDIG founder Ross Stevens and $5,000 from the Bitcoin Voter Project. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Binance.

Bitcoin Policy on the Ballot

Our reading of the filing is that crypto's political operation has matured from episodic intervention into a standing institution: the same network that moved $41 million in Ohio two years ago is now pre-funding a defense of a friendly incumbent before the general election campaign even peaks. The stakes are legislative terrain for Bitcoin (BTC) and the broader market — committee composition in a Senate that writes market-structure rules. With Fairshake's $30 million pledge as the opening commitment and roughly $11.4 million already deployed, the industry's fear of a hostile Banking Committee chair returning is no longer rhetoric; it is a line item on an FEC report.