Crypto Tried Congress. Now It’s Turning to the Elections

The US crypto industry spent months pushing Congress toward a long-awaited regulatory framework. When the Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, Stand With Crypto did not back away from the fight — it took the fight to the ballot box.

The Coinbase-backed advocacy group has now begun rolling out its first Senate endorsements for the 2026 elections, backing candidates it believes can champion crypto in the next term. The move marks a shift from trying to get CLARITY through the current Senate to helping shape who will be sitting in Congress where the issue is likely to re-emerge.

On Wednesday, Stand With Crypto endorsed Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson in Iowa and Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas in New Hampshire. Husted is seeking reelection in Ohio, where he faces former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, while Hinson and Pappas are running for Senate seats in their respective states.

The timing is difficult to miss. On Sept. 15, the Senate failed to advance CLARITY in a procedural vote, falling short of the 60 votes required to move the legislation forward. The bill was designed to establish a federal regulatory framework for digital assets, but disagreements over the legislation — including Democratic concerns about President Donald Trump’s personal financial interests in crypto — helped keep the measure from advancing.

For Stand With Crypto, the failed vote appears to have changed the calculation. Rather than treating the Senate setback as the end of the legislative fight, the group is turning lawmakers’ crypto records into an increasingly important part of its election strategy. Mason Lynaugh, the group's executive director, said in a statement

“Following the Senate’s recent failure to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, Stand With Crypto’s more than three million advocates are shifting their energy and focus fully to ensuring we have pro-crypto champions in office who will carry forward our fight for clear rules of the road.”

The CLARITY Vote Is Now Part of the Campaign

Stand With Crypto has already built a political infrastructure around its campaign to influence crypto policy, including a voter hub and candidate scorecard tracking lawmakers’ positions on digital assets. The organization has now updated that scorecard to reflect the Senate’s CLARITY vote, turning the legislation’s failure into another data point for voters evaluating candidates.

That makes the endorsements more than a list of politicians with favorable crypto positions. They represent an attempt to connect congressional voting records with the industry’s broader electoral strategy — effectively telling crypto-focused voters which lawmakers the group believes can advance its policy agenda.

Husted is a particularly notable pick because he is already in the Senate and voted in favor of advancing CLARITY during the Sept. 15 procedural vote. Stand With Crypto currently rates him “A” and describes him as strongly supportive of crypto, while Brown, his Democratic opponent, receives an “F” on the organization’s scorecard.

The Ohio race also carries history for the crypto industry. In 2024, crypto-aligned super PAC Fairshake spent $12 million in Ohio supporting Republican Bernie Moreno, who defeated Brown. Two years later, Brown is attempting a return to the Senate while another crypto-supportive Republican, Husted, now holds the seat.

The episode shows how quickly crypto policy has become intertwined with congressional politics. A vote on market-structure legislation is no longer confined to the Capitol — advocacy groups can now use that record to decide which candidates receive endorsements, advertising and organizational support.

Crypto Is Expanding Its Election Campaign

Stand With Crypto is not stopping with the Senate. The group has also expanded its House endorsements after backing more than 30 candidates last month, adding Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures of Alabama and Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa.

It also said it would increase advertising spending in six House races, including those involving Democratic Rep. Don Davis and Republican Rep. Bryan Steil. The group said the newly endorsed House candidates had supported CLARITY when it passed through the House last year.

That bipartisan approach is important to the group's strategy. Stand With Crypto is not presenting crypto regulation purely as a Republican or Democratic issue; instead, it is focusing on candidates whose records or stated positions align with its preferred approach to digital-asset policy.

The organization’s campaign is also building on the enormous political spending that crypto groups deployed during the 2024 election cycle. Fairshake and affiliated political groups spent millions of dollars supporting candidates viewed as favorable to the industry, helping establish crypto as a significant source of political spending in US elections.

Now that same political infrastructure is being deployed after a major legislative setback.

The Fight for CLARITY Didn’t End With the Senate Vote

The Senate’s failure to advance CLARITY was a major setback for the crypto industry, but it did not permanently kill the legislation. Instead, the vote left the broader question of how the US should regulate digital assets unresolved.

That may explain why Stand With Crypto is already looking beyond the immediate legislative battle. If the industry cannot secure the regulatory framework it wants from the current Congress, changing the lawmakers who will write the next version becomes another route toward the same objective.

The strategy is straightforward: support candidates who backed crypto legislation, track how lawmakers vote, mobilize crypto-focused voters and spend money in races where those records could matter.

Stand With Crypto describes those voters as a highly motivated and diverse bloc committed to policies such as digital-asset market structure. The organization says its voter hub and scorecard are intended to give those voters information ahead of Election Day.

The result is a new phase of the crypto industry's fight for regulation. The industry first tried to win CLARITY in Congress. After the Senate stopped the bill from moving forward, one of its most visible advocacy groups is now trying to influence who gets to decide the issue next.

The CLARITY Act may be stalled, but the political campaign around crypto regulation is only getting started.