A Solana-backed super PAC is spending $8m to boost pro-crypto Jon Husted against Sherrod Brown, as crypto war chests like Fairshake and Fellowship reshape 2026 races.

Sentinel Action Fund, a U.S. super PAC backed by the Solana Institute, will deploy $8 million with its advocacy arm Right Vote to support Republican Jon Husted in Ohio’s November Senate race against Democrat Sherrod Brown. The group said in a Wednesday statement that the spend is aimed at boosting a candidate it views as “strongly supports crypto” against one it accuses of blocking digital asset innovation.

Husted has repeatedly called for a “pro‑innovation framework for digital assets,” arguing that crypto and blockchain represent the “next wave of economic opportunity for working families.” In contrast, Brown has pushed for a crackdown on the use of crypto to fund terrorism and evade sanctions, and he lost his Senate seat in the 2024 race to crypto‑friendly Republican Bernie Moreno, who was heavily backed by industry money.

Solana money meets Washington politics

Sentinel’s crypto funding is anchored by a $750,000 donation from the Solana Institute and $250,000 from venture firm Multicoin Capital, according to Federal Election Commission records. “Brown has stood in the way of pro‑innovation policies when it comes to digital assets,” Sentinel Action Fund president Jessica Anderson said, casting the PAC’s intervention as part of a wider fight over the regulatory direction of U.S. crypto policy.

The PAC has also drawn checks from Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman and Fisher Investments chairman Kenneth Fisher, underscoring the extent to which traditional finance is now funding explicitly pro‑crypto political vehicles. Sentinel’s Ohio play is its third endorsement of the 2026 cycle, after it backed Maine Senator Susan Collins and Michigan Republican Mike Rogers, both considered friendly to digital assets.

Crypto super PACs more broadly have amassed substantial firepower heading into November. Fairshake, which is backed by firms such as Coinbase and a16z, has built a $193 million war chest and pledged to oppose “anti‑crypto politicians” as Congress moves toward a key vote on comprehensive digital asset legislation.

Another pro‑crypto vehicle, Fellowship PAC, recently received a $10 million donation from Cantor Fitzgerald, the Wall Street firm formerly owned by current U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to FEC filings. The group has named Tether U.S. executive Jesse Spiro as chairman to lead “its next phase of expansion” and will soon publish its first slate of endorsed candidates, signalling that stablecoin issuers are stepping more directly into U.S. electoral politics.

In previous crypto.news coverage of U.S. policy battles over stablecoins and market structure, reporters have highlighted how Solana‑linked entities, ETF issuers and exchange groups are increasingly turning to political spending as they seek friendlier rules for onchain finance.