Many believe Bernie Moreno did not defeat Sherrod Brown in 2024; the cryptocurrency industry did. Cryptocurrency firms and their affiliated political groups spent a whopping $40 million opposing Brown as he sought re-election. It might have made the difference. Donald Trump won Ohio by 11 percentage points, but Moreno beat Brown by just 3 1/2 percentage points, a relatively tight election by Ohio standards.
Crypto has a grudge against Brown because when he was chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and a leading member of that panel, he backed tougher regulations on the crypto industry.
And Brown is back, looking to reenter the Senate, and the crypto industry is back trying to stop him.
This week, the leading crypto political action committee, Fairshake, said it plans to spend at least $30 million to support Sen. Jon Husted and oppose Brown.
It is just another example of how important this race is in the struggle to control Congress, and another example of big money exerting a huge influence on how Americans elect their leaders.
Joining us to dig deeper into this is Joe Light, a senior writer at Barron's who covers the intersection of Washington and business.
Snollygoster of the week
Hours apart, Amy Acton and Vivek Ramaswamy called on the state legislature to suspend Ohio’s gas tax as prices hit $4.50 a gallon. Acton announced her plan first, but the proposal did not include many details.
A few hours later, Ramaswamy announced his plan with lots of details, including how long it will last and how he will pay for it. He has the support of legislative leaders, who will spend gas money and travel to Columbus to try to pass a 90-day gas tax holiday.
It is nice. We will all save 38.5 cents a gallon if Ohio does not tax drivers for 90 days. At $4.50 a gallon, that will be about a 9% discount. After a week of prices jumping up and down by 50 cents a gallon, we likely will not notice. It will cost the state up to $700 million in lost revenue that pays for road construction and repairs.
Regardless of the math, it is a pretty shrewd move to eliminate the state’s gas tax two weeks before early voting begins. For that, Amy Acton and Vivek Ramaswamy get our Snollygoster of the Week award.