Former Sen. Sherrod Brown defeated Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio’s 2026 special election, despite crypto PACs spending more than $64 million to keep Husted in office. Brown won the seat for the rest of former Sen. JD Vance’s term, which ends in January 2029. Democrats also won control of both chambers of Congress, putting crypto critic Sen. Elizabeth Warren in line—not yet confirmed—to chair the Senate Banking Committee.
According to Reuters, crypto super PACs spent about $176 million across 100 seats during the election cycle, including primaries; their spending did not produce the same result in every race. In Nebraska, Sen. Pete Ricketts retained his seat after a Fairshake affiliate spent $13.5 million opposing his challenger. The change in congressional control could slow crypto legislation, while advocacy group Stand With Crypto classified 19 winning Senate candidates as pro-crypto and eight as anti-crypto, with 33 of 35 races called as of 9:45 p.m. UTC on Nov. 4.
