Midterm election season is heating up in the United States and a new battleground for younger, tech and crypto-savvy voters is forming.
Campaign donations are starting to take on a different format as crypto executives are preparing to back industry-friendly politicians for Congress.
There are deep divisions in both political parties over digital assets and their role in the American financial system. Some forward-thinking politicos are taking their salaries in crypto and wanting to allow them to be used for payments, while on the other side of the fence are those that want to quash the industry in its entirety.
The U.S. mid-terms are general elections that are held near the midpoint of a president’s four-year term of office, they are scheduled for early November.
PACs and campaigning
Crypto industry advocates are raising money for a super political action committee (PAC) that aims to spend $20 million promoting candidates friendly to the sector, according to the Washington Post. The report also revealed that Coinbase hosted a fundraiser for Senate majority leader Charles Schumer via Zoom last week. Schumer commented that crypto regulations should not smother the industry as it matures.
According to industry leaders, Republicans are likely to benefit more from campaigning since more of them have embraced the industry than their Democrat counterparts who remain divided. Names such as Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are in the pro-crypto camp.
Crypto contributions have also come in for Democrat Congressional candidate Aarika Rhodes who is vying for Brad Sherman’s California position. Sherman is an outspoken critic of the cryptocurrency industry as is Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren who spits fire at the sector at every opportunity, blaming it for everything from drug trafficking to sanctions evasion.
Rhodes is taking a more progressive approach with a call for universal basic income which is the foundation for her support for crypto as a matter of economic justice.
Democrats warming up to crypto
There is a growing number of Democrats that have embraced the industry, however, possibly realizing that it could be the key to swaying a large Millennial and future Gen. Z voter base. These include New York representative Ritchie Torres and the city’s Mayor Eric Adams.
Dan Matuszewski, the co-founder of crypto investment firm CMS Holdings, told the outlet:
“There are a lot of Democratic candidates who are pro-crypto that we want to foster in their trajectory. But any willingness to not be hostile is a good thing,”
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