tyler and cameron winklevoss He donated $4.9 million to the political action committee Fair Shake, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission. This is the latest move for FairShake, which has spent millions of dollars running attack ads against Democrat Katie Porter, who is running for Dianne Feinstein's former California Senate seat. It's just a windfall.
The new donation from the Winklevoss twins was first reported on crypto telegraph machine Wednesday's move comes after major companies in the crypto industry made significant donations to FairShake starting in late 2023. According to the latest numbers, Ripple Labs and Coinbase donated $20 million and $20.5 million, respectively. open secret. A16z venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz have each donated $9.5 million since October 2023, according to OpenSecrets.
The Winklevoss twins are best remembered by some for their public feud with Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook in the social media company's early days. Lately, however, the Winklevoss brothers have been focusing on the world of cryptocurrencies, even though Gemini, the cryptocurrency company they founded in 2014, has fallen on hard times. Gemini was forced to freeze its accounts in 2022 following the FTX debacle, and New York State Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against Gemini. The end of last year.
Fair Shake PAC has set its sights on California Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, who is running for the California Senate seat previously held by Dianne Feinstein. It buys both broadcast TV and digital ads. The ad does not fully reveal to the viewer who is actually attacking Porter.
“Katie Porter plays us fools and preaches her values to California. She claims she doesn't accept money from corporate PACs. No, instead, Katie Porter has received more than $100,000 in campaign contributions directly from executives at Big Pharma, Big Oil, and Big Banks,” the ad's narrator claims.
“It won't sway the Senate. It's the same politics of deceit. And we won't be fooled,” the ad continues.
The ad features text describing donations, including a $500 donation from a pharmaceutical company executive, a $2,000 donation from an oil company vice president, and a $2,900 donation from a bank president. However, there is some debate as to whether these donations, made by individuals working for these companies rather than the companies themselves, should actually be considered receiving funds from the same industry.
actual, sacramento bee I recently wrote an article explaining how it is misleading to characterize these donations as coming from Big Pharma, Big Oil, and Big Banks. But misleading or not, it's hard for YouTube users in California to escape this ad.This ad has been viewed over 6 million times on a video sharing platform According to Google Advertising Transparency Center.
It's not entirely clear what Porter did to anger the Fair Shake people, but Porter is running against fellow Democrats Rep. Adam Schiff and Rep. Barbara Lee in the primary. Steve Garvey, a Republican and former Major League Baseball player, is also running, but polls place him a distant fourth. Even if the top two candidates in the March 5th primary are Democrats, they will still advance to the November 5th general election.
Cryptocurrency was not a topic of discussion during the final debate between the four main candidates. on tuesdayHowever, Schiff has expressed support for cryptocurrencies on his blog. Campaign site:
California is at the forefront of new developments in technology, from Web3 and quantum computing to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, to biotechnology and climate change technology. We will develop a comprehensive regulatory framework to ensure these companies and jobs are here to stay and grow, and to ensure that the United States remains a world leader in these important new technologies. There is a need.
Porter's campaign did not respond to emailed questions, but a press release on the congressman's website mentions the attack ad. was“Funded by shady crypto billionaires.'' Porter also responded to X's ads last week, when the ads began hitting YouTube circles in California in earnest.
“Californians will not be fooled. The shadowy crypto billionaires don’t want a strong voice for consumers in the Senate. They are afraid of those who scream corporate greed, so they are disingenuous black money advertising against me. “We are spending millions of dollars on this,” Porter wrote to X. February 13th. “Their ads will never stop me from fighting for you.”
FairShake is said to be affiliated with two crypto groups known as “Defend American Jobs” and “Protect Progress.” new york times. Protect Progress is currently YouTube ads Supporting Democrat Shomali Figures, who is running for the Alabama House of Representatives.
It's safe to say that Fairshake, who has raised more than $85 million in donations, has no plans to stop trying to influence elections in California's Senate primary. After all, this year is the presidential election. And with the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum both recovering in recent months, it's clear that the crypto industry is ready to do everything it can to influence public policy.
