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Donavan McKinney won. And the crypto industry’s money didn’t save Shri Thanedar.
McKinney, a Michigan State Representative, defeated the two-term incumbent Thanedar in the Democratic primary for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District, taking 51.9% of the vote to Thanedar’s 48.1%. The margin wasn’t massive, but it was enough — and it came despite a cryptocurrency-focused PAC dropping more than $2 million to keep Thanedar in his seat.
The PAC behind that spending is called Protect Progress. It’s aligned with Fairshake, a political group that has pulled in serious money from crypto firms including Coinbase and Ripple. Fairshake isn’t new to this game. During the 2024 election cycle, the group spent over $170 million across races where candidates’ views on crypto were up for debate. Now, in the current cycle, Fairshake and its affiliates are back at it — pouring money into media campaigns and primary races across multiple U.S. states, trying to tilt the balance toward candidates who’ll vote the right way on crypto legislation.
Thanedar was exactly that kind of candidate. He voted in favor of the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act, two pieces of legislation the crypto industry has pushed hard. From an industry standpoint, backing him made sense. From a voter standpoint, apparently it didn’t.
A Campaign That Lost More Than a Primary
McKinney’s win came with real institutional weight behind it. His campaign picked up endorsements from both the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Socialists of America — a broad coalition that probably tells you something about how Michigan’s 13th District voters see themselves politically.
Thanedar’s problems weren’t only about the PAC money working against him. Reports say his campaign lost over $600,000 in the second quarter of 2026 after he put $3.7 million of campaign funds into cryptocurrency companies. That’s a rough number. And it’s the kind of detail that tends to stick in voters’ minds — a congressman betting campaign cash on the same industry that’s bankrolling his political survival. Whether that hurt him with voters or not, it’s hard to say for certain. But it probably didn’t help.
McKinney’s campaign hadn’t issued a public comment on the primary win as of publication. Cointelegraph reached out and didn’t get an immediate response.
Fairshake’s Reach Beyond Michigan
Michigan wasn’t the only state on Fairshake’s map. A separate affiliate, Defend American Jobs, spent over $65,000 in Washington’s 4th Congressional District backing Republican Amanda McKinney. She’ll now face Democrat John Duresky in the November general election after both advanced from their respective primaries. No relation to Donavan McKinney, for the record — just a coincidence of names in a cycle where Fairshake seems to be everywhere at once.
The pattern is pretty clear. Fairshake and its affiliates pick races where the crypto question is live — where one candidate is friendly and the other isn’t — and they spend. Sometimes big, sometimes smaller. The goal seems to be building a Congress that will move crypto-friendly legislation forward without too much friction.
It’s a strategy that has worked in other races. But Michigan’s 13th just handed it a loss.
What November Looks Like
McKinney now heads into a general election contest against Republican Taras Nykoriak. That race will draw its own scrutiny, especially with crypto-aligned groups watching closely to see whether their money can do more work in November than it did in August.
The broader question — one that won’t get answered cleanly by a single primary result — is whether voters are starting to push back on candidates who carry heavy industry backing. Crypto PAC money is visible now in a way it wasn’t a few cycles ago. Fairshake’s $170 million-plus in 2024 spending made headlines. Protect Progress’s $2 million Michigan buy made headlines. Voters can see it.
Whether they care, and how much, is probably going to vary district by district. In Michigan’s 13th, it seems they cared enough to go the other way.
Thanedar’s campaign put its chips on crypto support and lost 51.9% to 48.1%. McKinney heads to November. Thanedar doesn’t.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of the vote did Donavan McKinney receive in the Michigan primary?
McKinney took 51.9% of the vote against Thanedar’s 48.1% in the Democratic primary for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District.
How much did the crypto-backed PAC Protect Progress spend supporting Thanedar?
Protect Progress spent over $2 million supporting Shri Thanedar in the primary. The PAC is aligned with Fairshake, which has received significant funding from crypto firms including Coinbase and Ripple.
What happened to Thanedar’s campaign funds invested in crypto?
Reports say Thanedar’s campaign lost over $600,000 in the second quarter of 2026 after investing $3.7 million of campaign funds into cryptocurrency companies.
