Stratton Spikes Fairshake's $8-$10 Million Hail Mary to Clinch Senate Seat

Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton secured the Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday, effectively booking her ticket to Washington from the Land of Lincoln. She outmaneuvered Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, whose campaign was essentially propped up by the crypto super-PAC Fairshake as its personal, very expensive, puppet.

Fairshake funneled a cool $8 million – with some estimates whispering it was closer to a whopping $10 million – into Krishnamoorthi’s war chest. Meanwhile, Stratton just hitched a ride on the coattails of Governor J.B. Pritzker’s endorsement, proving sometimes the best play is to just know a guy with a bigger checkbook. The Cook Political Report classifies this Senate seat as "Solid Democratic," which in political degen terms means the primary winner is basically guaranteed to moon after the November election.

Fairshake’s playbook involved running attack ads against Stratton instead of promoting their own guy, a strategy they’ve deployed before like a trader reusing a failed leverage position. The PAC boasts a high win-rate in the primaries it backs, and it did manage to snag three House victories in Illinois: Donna Miller (2nd District), Melissa Bean (8th District), and Nikki Budzinski (13th District). The spending receipts show $800k used to bludgeon Roger Peters in IL-2, $560k for Bean via its Protect Progress affiliate, and a comparatively modest sub-$84k bag for Budzinski – guess not all candidates get the VIP treatment.

The group also took a nearly $2 million swing at unseating La Shawn Ford in the 7th District, flooding the zone with negative ads. Ford’s team fired back with a cease-and-desist, labeling the ads defamatory, which is political speak for "rage-quit and lawyer up." Fairshake’s spokesperson, Geoff Vetter, congratulated his winning pro-crypto candidates and pledged to keep fighting for "American innovation," though he notably went radio silent when asked about the Senate race – a classic "WAGMI, but not that guy" moment.

The crypto-rating watchdog Stand With Crypto – a Coinbase-backed initiative that grades politicians like they're NFT projects – handed Stratton a big, fat "F." This was based largely on a single comment where she called her opponent's backers "MAGA-backed crypto bros," and the fact she has no voting record on crypto bills. Krishnamoorthi, meanwhile, scored an "A" for his voting history and questionnaire responses, making him the teacher's pet of the crypto caucus.

With the primary dust settled, Stratton is now set for the November ballot, where she’s expected to easily secure the Senate seat for the Democrats and, by the looks of it, for the faction that isn't getting their talking points from a crypto Telegram group.