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As voters make their way to the ballot boxes to select their preferred candidates in the Democratic and Republican primaries for New Jersey’s gubernatorial race, financial backing from cryptocurrency traders and interest groups appears to be less influential than it was in the 2024 federal elections.
Based on documents reviewed by Cointelegraph from the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission as of Tuesday, no notable political action committees (PACs) financed by cryptocurrency firms or interest groups seemed to have contributed to any of the 12 Democratic and Republican candidates vying for the governorship.
In an investigation for contributions made directly to candidates or PACs, only a handful of filings indicated any links to the cryptocurrency sector.
A $500 donation was made to Democratic candidate Josh Gottheimer’s campaign from MARA Holdings’ vice president of investor relations, Robert Samuels, alongside a $900 contribution to Republican candidate Jon Bramnick from Rohan Varkey, a senior analyst in strategic finance at Block.
Furthermore, Coinbase consultant Miti Sathe contributed $500 to Democratic candidate Steve Fulop, while Roshan Shah, co-founder and CEO of New Jersey-based mining firm Decimal Digital Currency, donated $2,000 to Democratic candidate Ras Baraka.
The donations, totaling approximately $4,000, that Cointelegraph was able to identify before the Tuesday primaries were minor when contrasted with the crypto industry’s efforts to back candidates in the 2024 elections, both through direct donations and media expenditures via PACs like Fairshake, which invested over $130 million in congressional campaigns.
Fairshake and its affiliate Protect Progress allocated over $450,000 to support Robert Menendez Jr. and Gottheimer in their respective Democratic primaries for US House of Representatives in 2024.
Related: What impact did crypto voters have in the 2024 US election?
The costliest election in New Jersey’s history, yet without crypto?
Even though it seems the cryptocurrency sector is not significantly involved in the New Jersey gubernatorial race, the advocacy group Stand With Crypto, linked to Coinbase, facilitated a “get out the vote” rally on Thursday, allowing three gubernatorial candidates to address crypto-focused citizens. Gottheimer, Fulop, and Republican candidate Bill Spadea articulated pro-digital asset views during the event.
A representative for Stand With Crypto informed Cointelegraph post-event that the organization’s PAC had not dispatched any of its resources to back candidates in the state’s gubernatorial election. Cointelegraph reached out to representatives of Coinbase and Fairshake but had not received responses by the time of publication.
Per a June 4 report from AdImpact, the gubernatorial primary was poised to become the costliest election in the state’s history, with over $85 million invested to support or challenge candidates. Evidence indicated PACs and interest groups spent upwards of $22 million on Gottheimer’s campaign, although the report did not reference financial input from cryptocurrency companies.
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