Republicans Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine, both backed by the crypto industry, have won special elections in Florida for the 1st and 6th Congressional Districts of the US House.
Fairshake, a crypto-backed PAC supported by Coinbase, Ripple, and Andreessen Horowitz, contributed roughly $1.5 million to the campaigns of Patronis and Fine.
Jimmy Patronis secured the vacant seat in Florida’s 1st Congressional District, previously held by Matt Gaetz, with 57% of the vote against Democrat Gay Valimont, according to AP News data.
Randy Fine won Florida’s 6th Congressional District with 56.7% of the vote, succeeding Mike Waltz. Fine defeated Democratic rival Josh Weil, a public school teacher.
While these districts have been Republican-controlled for approximately 30 years, their lead has diminished in recent years. Fairshake spent around $1.16 million on advertising for Fine and $347,000 to support Patronis’s campaign.
Both Patronis and Fine have publicly supported the crypto industry; Fine stated on X on Jan. 14, “Floridians want crypto innovation!”
The victories of Patronis and Fine bring Republican representation in the House to 220 seats, compared to the Democrats’ 213. Two seats remain vacant following the deaths of Texas and Arizona Democrats Sylvester Turner and Raúl Grijalva on March 5 and March 13, respectively.
These wins suggest continued support for crypto legislation in the US capital, and the Republican Party maintains its House majority even if it had lost both seats in Florida.
Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna stated at the Digital Assets Summit on March 18 that he believes Congress “should be able to get” both a stablecoin and crypto market structure bill passed this year.
The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, recently passed by the Senate Banking Committee in an 18-6 vote on March 13, may be considered by the House.
Senator Cynthia Lummis has also reintroduced a Bitcoin reserve bill, which was referred to the Senate Banking Committee on March 11, following the Trump administration’s announcement of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve on March 6.