Senior Republican officials made an urgent call to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday after discovering that a cryptocurrency super PAC backed by his former firm was planning to dump $1.75 million into a contentious Texas Senate runoff.
The group, Fellowship PAC, had filed paperwork indicating it would support Ken Paxton in his primary battle against Senator John Cornyn. That prospect alarmed GOP leadership, who saw the move as a political disaster in a race where President Trump has remained conspicuously neutral.
Party officials viewed the spending plan as an unforced error and pressured Lutnick, whose sons now run Cantor Fitzgerald after he divested from the firm last year, to intervene. It remains unclear whether Lutnick followed up on those calls.
Chris LaCivita, Trump's former campaign manager and a key strategist for the super PAC supporting Cornyn, publicly echoed the private alarm. "This was not a smart move," he posted on X.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee issued a blistering statement after the FEC filing went public. "Backing the guy who came in second place in the GOP state primary and risks handing Democrats the Senate is pure political malpractice," spokeswoman Joanna Rodriguez said.
By Wednesday afternoon, Republican leaders had quieted down. Fellowship PAC had never actually aired the advertisements listed in its FEC report and had no plans to do so, according to people tracking the situation. Ad Impact, which monitors political spending, confirmed that neither Fellowship PAC nor its advertising partner Nxum has run any spots this cycle.
Jesse Spiro, who chairs Fellowship PAC and serves as head of government affairs for Tether, did not respond to requests for comment.
The episode captures the growing clout of the cryptocurrency industry in electoral politics. During the 2024 cycle, the sector spent between $120 million and $130 million overall, with its flagship PAC, Fairshake, spending roughly $40 million to defeat then-Senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio. Fairshake, funded by Coinbase, Ripple, and Andreessen Horowitz, entered this election year with nearly $200 million in the bank.
Fellowship PAC announced in January it aimed to raise $100 million for 2026 operations. Through mid-April, the group had collected $11 million, including $10 million from Cantor Fitzgerald and $1 million from Anchor Labs, a crypto infrastructure firm with ties to Cantor.
Author James Rodriguez: "The crypto lobby is still learning that billions of dollars can't buy you political judgment. When your first move tanks so fast the GOP has to call in the Commerce Secretary, maybe reconsider the next one."
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