With the U.S. midterm elections around the corner on Nov. 8, 2022, Senate, House, and gubernatorial campaigns have reached a fever pitch. With the Senate split down the middle between Republicans and Democrats save for Vice-President Kamala Harris’s deciding vote tipping influence towards the Democrats, recent state polls suggest that Americans want Republicans to win at least the House.
Democrats unlikely to win
If the Senate flips, happens, President Joe Biden may have a tough time passing his new crypto framework, still in its nascent stages, and Democrats’ power would be severely hampered.
Historically, the ruling party, which is currently the Democrats, has not performed well during the midterms, and president Biden’s current approval of 42.3% means that Republicans could very well succeed.
Crypto enthusiasts will be keeping a close eye on the midterm results in states with pro-crypto candidates. For the most part, Republicans, including Blake Masters, Theodore Budd, and Tom Emmer have generally favored crypto-friendly policies.
A recent poll shows that Masters is falling behind rival Mark Kelly, both of whom are vying for a Senate seat to represent Arizona.
Masters is a cryptocurrency supporter and has long decried the overreach of his Democrat rivals in trying to hamper the progress of the crypto industry. “I’m expecting the left to use [the cryptocurrency bear market] to control these technologies,” he said in a Fox Business interview in May 2022. Also, he advocates legislation to prevent fraud but favors the decentralized nature of blockchain.
As of Aug. 15, 2022, Masters held between $600,000 and $1.2 million worth of Bitcoin. He also holds Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Filecoin, Bitcoin, and Tezos, according to The Verge.
Another Republican pro-crypto candidate, Theodore Budd, who accepts Bitcoin campaign donations via BitPay, is contesting Democrat opponent Cheri Beasley to represent North Carolina in the Senate. At press time, Budd had a 3.8% lead over Beasley, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Interestingly, stablecoin regulation promoter Pat Toomey is one of four Senators not running for this election. The lawmakers say they have become disillusioned with the legislative process. There are over 50 crypto bills awaiting lawmakers in Congress.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump hinted that he could announce a bid for the 2024 presidential elections on Nov. 14, 2022, at a rally in Iowa on Nov. 3, 2022. During Trump’s previous term stock markets boomed, and given crypto’s recent correlation with stock markets, could help crypto regain its former footing.
In other leadership races, the new U.K. prime minister Rishi Sunak had been bullish regarding crypto while serving as chancellor under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Sunak said in April 2022 that he planned to make the U.K. a global crypto hub. Sunak was a supporter of the U.K. government’s move to exit the European Union.
