(Bloomberg) – In this year’s hotly contested race for the governor of New Jersey, some Democrats embrace strategies that will help bring Republican Donald Trump back to the White House are embracing strategies that support crypto.
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At least half of the six candidates fighting for the Democratic nomination have a history of efforts to support cryptocurrency, including US president Mikier Cheryl, who leads several polls in the primary race. Jersey City Mayor Steve Flop and US Representative Josh Gottimer are actively talking about digital assets as part of their campaign.
“Crypto is part of my platform,” Sherrill said in an interview. “It’s part of the economy and we need to push ourselves into this space and understand how to move forward in the best possible way.
These Democrats are involved in digital assets after an election year when Trump supported the industry as a core part of his victory campaign and Republicans placed code on the party’s platform. The industry is paying attention: Crypto’s advocacy group stand is the sponsor of major debates, both Democrats and Republicans later this month, and is the exclusive sponsor of the event’s livestream, according to communications director Meghan Pennington.
Related political action committees such as digital asset companies and heavyweight fairshakes spent a lot of money in the 2024 cycle, helping to favor certain races in the favour of crypto-friendly candidates.
Trump made many code-specific promises ahead of his reelection. This contrasts with the more militant stance taken by former President Joe Biden and a prominent Democrat in Congress. Now, as Crypto supporters gain more influence and the industry moves into mainstream, Democrats competing in the current large races have more incentives to show their eligibility.
“The Crypto’s partisan division has grown over the past few years, especially in the final cycle, as a response to what was happening mainly in the Biden administration,” said Rashan A. Colbert, U.S. policy director for the Council on Innovation. “It opened up opportunities for Republicans to take a leadership stance, but we’re seeing a bit of that level in the next cycle.”
From Cheryl’s perspective, Crypto was well established enough to be undisclosed, despite what she calls the “bad side” around a largely unregulated industry, including the potential conflict of interest that she tied to Trump herself.
“That shouldn’t make Democrats say, ‘Well, I’m anti-cryptic,'” Sheryl said. “We need to put more resources into the space and regulate them better.”
Big field
New Jersey is one of two states hosting governor races this year. Virginia is one more. Eleven candidates are running to replace Democrat governor Phil Murphy who is unable to seek re-election after serving two terms in Garden State.
Crypto is not the only problem, or even the main problem, in a race that relies more on mass transport and housing, and in a Trump-based race. Still, it could serve as a differentiator for candidates who will make a point ahead of the June 10 primary. A spokesman for Fairshake said the PAC has not been donated to any of the candidate’s governor’s campaigns.
According to a Rutgers Eagleton poll released last month, New Jersey’s races are relatively wide open within just a few weeks until the main vote, with a third of either party not sure who they like. Former New Jersey Senator Jack Theatarelli, GOP’s 2021 governor candidate, leads the Republican side, but among Democrats, Cheryl and Flop are ahead in the tight spot that took place in early April.
Ciattarelli’s campaign was not in response to requests for comment on his views on Crypto, nor did it have a campaign of three Democrats competing with Sherrill, Fulop and Gotheimer.
Flop has been involved in crypto since around 2018 with personal investments in Bitcoin and ether, he said in an interview. If elected governor, he will expose a portion of the state pension fund to the code, as he did during the mayor of Jersey City. Last July, Fulop, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Banker, announced that the Jersey City Pension Fund had updated its documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission to allocate the fund’s share to Bitcoin exchange funds.
For Gotheimer, Crypto is part of the message about robbing the state of economic growth.
“New Jersey has a great opportunity to be a leader in crypto,” Gotheimer said. “We’re pushing so hard as we can recruit more businesses and jobs in this space.”
Gotheimer and Sherrill were two of the 71 Democrats who voted in favor of last year’s financial innovation and technology in 21st century law. The law that Republicans voted for 208 people and the three would help create code rules. Sherrill and Gottheimer also voted for HJ Res. 25, the bill passed to the law this year will repeal the Internal Revenue Service regulations that require decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges to report tax information.
A long history
Gotheimer in particular has a history of supporting cryptocurrency laws in Congress. This can be traced back to co-sponsoring the 2019 Token Taxonomy.
Last month, Gottheimer helped introduce bipartisan-supported Stablecoin transparency and accountability in a bill markup session. A similar Senate bill faces headwinds after Democrats threatened to block it unless changes were made.
“Stablecoins are an important part of the growing ecosystem of digital assets. As Jersey families invest in American digital assets, there are rules to protect Jersey families, not overseas,” Gottheimer said in an X post earlier this year.
Gottheimer received $242,791 from the Crypto Super Pacs’ final election cycle from Fairshake, which spent $122,688 on Gottheimer’s run home in the 2024 cycle. Fairshake donors include Coinbase Global Inc., Ripple Labs and Andreessen Horowitz.
Former Englewood Cliffs mayor Mario Clanjack, a Republican candidate and Trump supporter, said he has facilitated numerous deals dealings dealing with blockchain during his previous career as a lawyer. He said he supports digital assets, but he doesn’t plan to make cryptocurrency a part of his platform.
“President Trump will support him in terms of how he wants to develop the crypto market,” Clanjack said. “We’re not there yet from a crypto perspective as a Fiat currency, but that’s what we see as we’re developing.”
Flop said that having cryptocurrency as part of the candidates’ platform in future elections, beyond the New Jersey governor race, is key to gaining support from younger voters.
“If it’s practical about youth, you need to understand that it’s important to understand what the crypto space is, both economically and politically,” Flop said. “I think it’s stupid when Democrats say they don’t want to accept this.”
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