As voters head to the ballot boxes to cast their choices for candidates in the Democratic and Republican primaries in New Jersey’s race for its next governor, funds from crypto traders and interest groups don’t seem to be as much of a factor as they were in the 2024 federal races.
According to filings with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission reviewed by Cointelegraph as of Tuesday, no significant political action committees (PACs) funded by cryptocurrency companies or interest groups appeared to have contributed to any of the 12 Democratic and Republican candidates running for governor.
In a search for contributions directly to candidates or PACs, only a few filings suggested any connections to the crypto industry.
There was a $500 contribution to Democratic candidate Josh Gottheimer’s campaign from mining company MARA Holdings’ vice president of investor relations, Robert Samuels, and a $900 contribution to Republican candidate Jon Bramnick from Rohan Varkey, a strategic finance senior analyst at Block.
In addition, a Coinbase consultant, Miti Sathe, donated $500 to Democratic candidate Steve Fulop, and Roshan Shah, co-founder and CEO of the New Jersey-based mining company Decimal Digital Currency, contributed $2,000 to Democratic candidate Ras Baraka.
The filings for the roughly $4,000 in donations Cointelegraph was able to locate ahead of the Tuesday primaries were paltry compared to the crypto industry’s efforts to support candidates in the 2024 elections, both through direct contributions and media buys through PACs like Fairshake, which spent more than $130 million on congressional races.
Fairshake and its affiliate Protect Progress used more than $450,000 to support Robert Menendez Jr. and Gottheimer in their respective Democratic primaries for US House of Representatives seats in 2024.
Related: What role did crypto voters play in the 2024 US election?
Most expensive election in New Jersey history, but without crypto?
Though seemingly not as financially involved in the New Jersey gubernatorial race, the crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto, affiliated with Coinbase, organized a “get out the vote” rally on Thursday, allowing three candidates for the governorship to speak to crypto-minded residents. Gottheimer, Fulop and Republican candidate Bill Spadea expressed views that were supportive of digital assets at the event.
A spokesperson for Stand With Crypto told Cointelegraph after the event that the organization’s PAC had not yet used any of its funds to support candidates in the state’s gubernatorial election. Cointelegraph reached out to representatives of Coinbase and Fairshake but had not received responses at the time of publication.
According to a June 4 report from AdImpact, the gubernatorial primary was set to become the most expensive election in the state’s history, with more than $85 million spent to support or oppose candidates. Data showed PACs and interest groups spent more than $22 million on Gottheimer’s campaign, though the report did not mention funding from crypto companies.
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