Fairshake is a political action committee funded by the cryptocurrency industry that supports candidates in the 2024 American elections. [1] [2] [3] [4] Major contributors include Coinbase, Ripple, and Andreessen Horowitz. [5]
The Hill reported that more than $10 million of the super PAC's spending went toward opposing the California Democratic Senate primary bid of Katie Porter, who lost in the March 2024 primary. [6]
As of June 2024, CNBC reported that Fairshake had backed the winning candidate in 33 of the 35 House and Senate primary races it had entered. [7]
EMILYs List is an American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect Democratic female candidates in favor of abortion rights to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985. The group's name is an acronym for "Early Money Is Like Yeast". Malcolm commented that "it makes the dough rise". The saying refers to a convention of political fundraising: receiving many donations early in a race helps attract subsequent donors. EMILYs List bundles contributions to the campaigns of Democratic women in favor of abortion rights running in targeted races.
Wilmot Reed Hastings Jr. is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and executive chairman of Netflix, and currently sits on a number of boards and non-profit organizations. A former member of the California State Board of Education, Hastings is also an advocate for education reform through charter schools.
An independent expenditure, in elections in the United States, is a political campaign communication that expressly advocates for the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate that is not made in cooperation, consultation or concert with; or at the request or suggestion of a candidate, candidate's authorized committee, or political party. If a candidates agent, authorized committee, party, or an "agent" for one of these groups becomes "materially involved", the expenditure is not independent.
Timothy Mellon is an American businessman, the grandson of Andrew Mellon, and an heir to the Mellon banking fortune. As of June 2024, Forbes estimated the Mellon family's net worth at $14.1 billion.
Chris Dixon is an American internet entrepreneur and investor. He is a general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and previously worked at eBay. He is also the co-founder and former CEO of Hunch. He was #1 on the Midas List in 2022. Dixon is known as a cryptocurrency and Web3 evangelist.
Coinbase Global, Inc., branded Coinbase, is an American publicly traded company that operates a cryptocurrency exchange platform. Coinbase is a distributed company; all employees operate via remote work. It is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States in terms of trading volume. The company was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam. In May 2020, Coinbase announced it would shut its San Francisco, California, headquarters and change operations to remote-first, part of a wave of several major tech companies closing headquarters in San Francisco in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Circle is a peer-to-peer payments technology company that now manages stablecoin USDC, a cryptocurrency the value of which is pegged to the U.S. dollar. It was founded by Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville in October 2013. Circle is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. USDC, the second largest stablecoin worldwide, is designed to hold at or near a stable price of $1. The majority of its stablecoin collateral is held in short-term U.S. government securities.
John Jordan is an American vintner, economist and political analyst.
The Committee to Defeat the President was first established as the hybrid Stop Hillary PAC in 2013. The PAC changed its name to the Committee to Defend the President in 2017. Ted Harvey, a former Colorado state senator, chairs the committee.
Harley Edwin Rouda Jr. is an American attorney, businessman and politician who served as the U.S. representative for California's 48th congressional district from 2019 to 2021. He was the first Democrat to represent the district, which encompasses southwestern coastal portions of Orange County including the cities of Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.
Karla Jurvetson is an American physician, philanthropist, and major Democratic donor. She has particularly focused on supporting candidates who are women, people of color, and from underrepresented communities, and she is a prominent activist in the movement to protect voting rights and American democracy. Jurvetson is vice chair of EMILY's List, which supports Democratic pro-choice women and has more than five million members.
Katherine Moore Porter is an American politician and lawyer who has been the U.S. representative from California's 47th congressional district since 2023, previously representing the 45th congressional district from 2019 to 2023. She was elected as part of a Democratic wave in Orange County flipping the 45th district, covering much of south-central Orange County, including Irvine, Tustin, and Lake Forest along with large portions of Anaheim and Laguna Niguel. In 2022, she was reelected in the 47th congressional district following redistricting. In 2023, Porter announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate, foregoing reelection to the House of Representatives. She was defeated after failing to advance from the nonpartisan primary won by Adam Schiff and Steve Garvey.
The 2024 United States Senate elections in California will be held on November 5, 2024, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of California. There will be two ballot items for the same Class 1 seat: a special election to fill the seat for the final weeks of the 118th United States Congress, and a general election for a full term that starts on January 3, 2025, starting in the 119th United States Congress. California uses a nonpartisan blanket primary, in which all candidates regardless of party affiliation appear on the same primary ballot and the two highest-placing candidates advance to the general election; however, special election winners can win outright if they win more than 50% of the vote in the first round.
Arabella Advisors is a Washington, D.C.-based for-profit consulting company that advises left-leaning donors and nonprofits about where to give money and serves as the hub of a politically liberal "dark money" network. It was founded by former Clinton administration appointee Eric Kessler. The Arabella network spent nearly $1.2 billion in 2020 and raised $1.6 billion that same year. In 2022, Arabella raised $1.3 billion and spent $900 million.
Stefani Zinerman is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she currently represents district 56, which includes Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights in Brooklyn, New York, in the New York State Assembly.
Pantera Capital is an American hedge fund and venture capital firm focused on digital assets headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The fund specializes in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. It is one of the largest digital asset funds in the world by managed assets.
Crypto.com is a cryptocurrency exchange company based in Singapore that offers various financial services, including an app, exchange, and noncustodial DeFi wallet, NFT marketplace, and direct payment service in cryptocurrency. As of June 2023, the company reportedly had 80 million customers and 4,000 employees. The exchange issues its own exchange token named Cronos (CRO).
Protect Our Future(POF) is a Democratic political action committee (PAC) started in 2022. It is funded primarily by Sam Bankman-Fried.
America First Policies is an organization created following the inauguration of Donald Trump in 2017 to promote the America First policy agenda of his administration. It was founded by Trump campaign people including Nick Ayers, Rick Gates, and Brad Parscale.
Ripple Labs, Inc. is an American technology company which develops the Ripple payment protocol and exchange network. Originally named Opencoin and renamed in 2015, the company was founded in 2012 and is based in San Francisco, California.