A cryptocurrency Super PAC just donated $713,000 to the Riley Moore political campaign
Is this political action committee about “saving American jobs” or did they just buy themselves another* West Virginia politician?
Yesterday, “Defend American Jobs” made a major contribution to WV 2 Republican candidate, Riley Moore:
Breaking news: Defend American Jobs has spent $713,230 on media buys to support Republican candidate Riley Moore in the House race in West Virginia. Stay tuned for more updates on the 2024 election. https://t.co/z2AYGsxjyD #Election2024 #Vote #WestVirginiaHouse #RileyMoore
— Dark Money 🤖 (@darkmoneybot) May 5, 2024
How big was this donation? I checked the most recent report from Open Secrets; it listed Riley Moore’s previous total contributions at $871,000. This new donation is almost its equal.
Okay, “Saving American jobs” sounds like a worthy goal; but is this what the group is doing? No, hardly. Not unlike other political action committees (PACs), its name hides its real purpose. More to the point, Open Secrets describes its industry as “Securities and Investments” and search engines quickly link them to cryptocurrency, an industry that is throwing lots of money around to mostly Republican candidates. Here, for instance, is a recent Slate article which describes the active role that Defend American Jobs and other crypto-backed PACs are playing in primary elections:
You may already have noticed crypto and tech money swishing around in the 2024 primaries. For the open California Senate seat, crypto-backed super PAC Fairshake splurged $10 million on ads against candidate Katie Porter, whose progressivism and crypto skepticism made her an enemy of the industry. She, of course, would lose. An affiliated PAC, Defend American Jobs, likewise dove into North Carolina’s GOP primaries, throwing half a million to the winning candidate for the 14th Congressional District.
So Riley Moore’s campaign is $700,000 richer. What does West Virginia have to do with cryptocurrency? Nothing. Did Moore need the donation to win the nomination? Hardly. No, this is all about the PAC’s future influence on Riley Moore for future legislation.
*Without describing who Defend American Jobs actually represented, Ogden’s political reporter, Steven Allen Adams, recently mentioned that WV’s governor and U.S. Senate candidate had received over $3 million from this same group. It won’t happen but wouldn’t it be fun to watch Jim Justice explain cryptocurrency? Bought and paid for, I’m sure he’s a big supporter, however (whatever it is).
