Republican

The Republican Party

Fine

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Two Republicans who received a combined $1.5 million from the crypto-backed political action committee (PAC) Fairshake will enter the US House after winning special elections in Florida.
Republican Jimmy Patronis won the vacant seat in <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/florida-special-election-crypto-pac-backed-candidates" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null">Florida’s 1st Congressional District</a> to replace Matt Gaetz, taking 57% of the vote to defeat Democrat Gay Valimont, <a href="https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2025/florida/?r=83253" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null">according</a> to AP News data.
Randy Fine also took Florida’s 6th Congressional District with 56.7% of the vote to beat his Democratic rival, public school teacher Josh Weil, and fill a seat left vacant by Mike Waltz, who took a job as White House national security adviser.
Florida’s 1st and 6th Congressional Districts — located in Florida’s western panhandle and along the state’s northeast coast — have been controlled by Republicans for roughly 30 years, but their lead has narrowed in recent years.
Fairshake, a <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-super-pac-network-back-gop-house-candidates-florida-special-elections" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null">PAC backed</a> by crypto industry giants including Coinbase, Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz, gave Fine around $1.16 million in advertising spending and funneled $347,000 to Patronis to support his campaign.
Both Republicans have expressed support for the crypto industry, with Fine <a href="https://x.com/VoteRandyFine/status/1879353078606078304" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null">stating</a> in a Jan. 14 X post that “Floridians want crypto innovation!”
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 <img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-04/0195f4b5-5bf1-712a-949c-2788f54a08a5" title="" alt="Crypto PAC-backed Republicans win US House seats in Florida special elections">
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 Source: <a href="https://x.com/VoteRandyFine/status/1879353078606078304" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null">Randy Fine</a>
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Fairshake and its affiliates poured around $170 million into the 2024 US presidential and congressional elections to back candidates who committed to supporting the crypto industry.
The wins by Patronis and Fine increased Republican representation in the House to 220 seats, with the Democrats holding 213 seats.
There are two vacant seats to be filled after Texas and Arizona Democrats Sylvester Turner and Raúl Grijalva died on March 5 and March 13, respectively.
<h2 id="florida-can-expect-to-see-a-crypto-friendly-regulatory-environment">Florida can expect to see a crypto-friendly regulatory environment&nbsp;</h2>
The victories for Patronis and Fine likely mean that crypto legislation will continue to see support in the US capital.
The Republican Party would have maintained its House majority even if it lost both seats in Florida, but it would have made it more difficult for some of the recently introduced Republican-backed crypto bills to pass through the House and Senate.
Related:<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/igaming/news/florida-bill-proposes-strict-rules-against-online-gambling/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null"> Florida bill proposes strict rules against online gambling</a>
At the Digital Assets Summit on March 18, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna said he believes Congress “should be able to get”&nbsp;<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/stablecoin-market-structure-bills-done-this-year-rep-khanna" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">both a stablecoin and crypto market structure bill</a> done this year.
Bills that could eventually make their way to the House include the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, which passed the <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/senate-banking-committee-advances-genius-stablecoin-bill" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">Senate Banking Committee </a>in an 18-6 vote on March 13.
Senator Cynthia Lummis also <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/senator-cynthia-lummis-new-bitcoin-act-one-million-btc" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">reintroduced a Bitcoin reserve bill</a> about a week after the Trump administration announced the establishment of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve on March 6, with the legislation referred to the Senate Banking Committee on March 11.
Magazine:<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/trumps-crypto-insider-trading-conflict-of-interest-concerns/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null"> Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions</a>

Crypto PAC-backed Republicans win US House seats in Florida special elections

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