This week, the chair of the Senate Banking Committee traveled to Jackson Hole, Wyo., to pay it forward.
Speaking to an audience gathered for a crypto conference on Tuesday, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) thanked the sector for “getting rid” of former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).
“I gotta tell you — I mean, thank you to all of y’all for getting rid of Sherrod Brown,” Scott said. “He’s running again, by the way.” Remember that Scott is also the chair of the NRSC.
Brown chaired the Banking Committee before losing to Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) in 2024. The crypto sector’s Fairshake super PAC network spent more than $40 million backing Moreno.
Nine months later, Scott was frank about the role that crypto’s unprecedented campaign spending played in that race.
“Literally, the industry put Bernie Moreno in the Senate, and he’s on the Banking Committee,” the South Carolina Republican said.
Usually, lawmakers thank voters for their electoral victories. Case in point: Moreno spokesperson Reagan McCarthy said in a statement that Republicans defeated Brown “thanks to overwhelming grassroots support in all 88 counties and an incredible team of supporters and allies.”
But things have changed in the years since the Supreme Court uncorked campaign spending limits for super PACs.
Policy corner: Scott projected confidence on the Senate’s next crypto bill, which — like the GENIUS Act — will require a hearty number of Democrats to clear the chamber.
“I believe that we’ll have between 12 and 18 Democrats, at least, open to voting for market structure, a far more complicated piece of legislation,” Scott said.
