Latest news with #SherrodBrown
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Vance urges crypto industry to expand involvement in politics after 2024 wins
Vice President Vance called on the crypto industry Wednesday to continue expanding its involvement in politics, after spending more than $200 million to boost crypto-friendly candidates in the 2024 election. Speaking at a Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas, Vance acknowledged the industry's efforts in the previous election, underscoring its role in the Ohio Senate race that unseated crypto-skeptical Former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D). 'Part of the reason that I'm standing here, part of the reason that Bernie Moreno defeated Sherrod Brown in the Senate campaign last year, is because you guys got organized and got involved in American politics,' the vice president said. A crypto-aligned super PAC poured more than $40 million into the race between Brown and Moreno, securing a key win with the ouster of the former chair of the Senate Banking Committee. 'I'm grateful to you for that, but there's a lesson to take from that experience, which is that unless you guys get involved in politics, politics is going to ignore this industry,' Vance added. 'Now you took a big step in 2024, and I'll tell you, every victory that we win, it's only a provisional victory.' 'Take the momentum of your political involvement in 2024 and carry it forward to 2026 and beyond,' he added. 'Don't ignore politics, because I guarantee you, my friends, politics is not going to ignore this community, not now and not in the future.' The crypto industry already appears poised to keep up its efforts in future elections. Pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake said in January that it had more than $116 million in cash on hand for the 2026 midterm elections. Its widespread spending in the 2024 election is viewed as a key factor in moving the needle on crypto in Congress. While President Trump has fully embraced the industry in his second term, he will need lawmakers to get his legislative agenda across the finish line. The administration has prioritized two key crypto bills long sought by the industry — one creating a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins and another divvying up regulation of the full digital assets market between two U.S. regulators. Stablecoin legislation has gained some ground in the Senate, clearing an early procedural hurdle this month, although it still has a way to go before final passage. Market structure legislation, likely to be a more complicated effort, has yet to be formally introduced. Vance on Wednesday underscored the administration's focus on these two pieces of legislation. 'We're optimistic that the Senate is able to move quickly on passing a clean GENIUS Act, and for the House to follow up and do the same,' he said, referring to the Senate's stablecoin bill. 'And of course, once that happens, our great President Trump will sign it into law the minute it comes across his desk.' 'Now when, when that's happened, when the administration will then fully shift to our third priority, which is to enact a transparent and tailored regulatory framework for digital assets, one that's pro innovation and fully incorporates crypto into the mainstream economy,' he added. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Vance urges crypto industry to expand involvement in politics after 2024 wins
Vice President Vance called on the crypto industry Wednesday to continue expanding its involvement in politics, after spending more than $200 million to boost crypto-friendly candidates in the 2024 election. Speaking at a Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas, Vance acknowledged the industry's efforts in the previous election, underscoring its role in the Ohio Senate race that unseated crypto-skeptical Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. 'Part of the reason that I'm standing here, part of the reason that Bernie Moreno defeated Sherrod Brown in the Senate campaign last year, is because you guys got organized and got involved in American politics,' the vice president said. A crypto-aligned super PAC poured more than $40 million into the race between Brown and Moreno, securing a key win with the ouster of the former chair of the Senate Banking Committee. 'I'm grateful to you for that, but there's a lesson to take from that experience, which is that unless you guys get involved in politics, politics is going to ignore this industry,' Vance added. 'Now you took a big step in 2024, and I'll tell you, every victory that we win, it's only a provisional victory.' 'Take the momentum of your political involvement in 2024 and carry it forward to 2026 and beyond,' he added. 'Don't ignore politics, because I guarantee you, my friends, politics is not going to ignore this community, not now and not in the future.' The crypto industry already appears poised to keep up its efforts in future elections. Pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake said in January that it had more than $116 million in cash on hand for the 2026 midterm elections. Its widespread spending in the 2024 election is viewed as a key factor in moving the needle on crypto in Congress. While President Trump has fully embraced the industry in his second term, he will need lawmakers to get his legislative agenda across the finish line. The administration has prioritized two key crypto bills long sought by the industry — one creating a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins and another divvying up regulation of the full digital assets market between two U.S. regulators. Stablecoin legislation has gained some ground in the Senate, clearing an early procedural hurdle this month, although it still has a way to go before final passage. Market structure legislation, likely to be a more complicated effort, has yet to be formally introduced. Vance on Wednesday underscored the administration's focus on these two pieces of legislation. 'We're optimistic that the Senate is able to move quickly on passing a clean GENIUS Act, and for the House to follow up and do the same,' he said, referring to the Senate's stablecoin bill. 'And of course, once that happens, our great President Trump will sign it into law the minute it comes across his desk.' 'Now when, when that's happened, when the administration will then fully shift to our third priority, which is to enact a transparent and tailored regulatory framework for digital assets, one that's pro innovation and fully incorporates crypto into the mainstream economy,' he added.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Regardless of the candidate, Democrats face long odds in Ohio governor race
In a recent column in the Columbus Dispatch, Thomas Suddes puts a spotlight on the inability of state Democrats to line up behind a full slate of statewide candidates in 2026. The key challenge, Suddes says, is that Democrats have been forced into a holding pattern as they wait for former Senator Sherrod Brown and former Congressman and Senate candidate Tim Ryan to decide whether to jump into the race for Governor or Senator. From the perspective of the average voter, Amy Acton has been virtually non-existent as a candidate. Outside of a few non-eventful interviews and a decent first quarter of fundraising, she's made virtually no news on the campaign trail. A visit to her campaign website gives prospective voters nothing to go on with regard to where she stands on key policies or campaign events where potential supporters would have the chance to hear from her directly. Acton is the only major candidate to announce for the Democratic nomination, but the way she's running the race suggests that she is not preparing to push back very hard should another more experienced politician like Brown or Ryan enter the race. If Brown, Ryan, or another Democratic candidate decides to throw their hat into the ring for governor, it won't come as much of a surprise for Republicans. In his statement withdrawing from the race for governor, Ohio Attorney General David Yost takes a Sherrod Brown candidacy, in some form, as a given. Yost mentions Brown's "comeback attempt" and calls out "Sherrod Brown and the risky progressive ideas of his party." He makes no mention of Acton. Most political observers see Brown as the most competitive candidate that Democrats can put forward for statewide office. He has experience winning statewide, having won five statewide elections (going 3 for 4 in Senate races and 2 for 3 in Secretary of State races), before losing in the 2024 Senate race to Bernie Moreno. At 72 years of age, Brown might decide to forgo further political office. But ending on a losing note might rankle the longtime politician. After nearly 50 years in office, Brown understandably may prefer to make his last race a successful one. More: Sherrod Brown forms workers' group as he mulls 2026 bid for Ohio governor, Senate Recent moves by Brown have only added fuel to the fire. In March, the Columbus Dispatch reported that Brown and his wife moved to the Columbus area. Brown also formed an organization called the Dignity of Work Institute, and the group's website doesn't do much to dispel the notion that Brown continues to hold political ambitions. The case for Brown is relatively clear. For one, his political persona seems tailor-made for the Trump era. He's experienced and comfortable on the campaign trail, is more likely to be seen in a sweatshirt than a suit jacket, and has a long history of speaking to working-class and union-friendly issues. Brown's timing might be right as well. His three elections for the Senate came during years that Democrats did well, including the Obama reelection year of 2012, and Democratic wave elections in 2006 and 2018. In some ways, Democrats seem well-positioned for success in 2026, given the history of midterm shifts against the party of the incumbent and the level of Democratic enthusiasm and turnout that's been seen in special elections. Whether the Democrats put up Acton or Brown or someone else entirely for governor, a recent analysis by the New York Times makes it clear that the party's path to the Ohio governor's mansion is not an easy one to navigate. The long and the short of it is that Republicans have made huge gains in working-class communities and counties where fewer people have college degrees. Democrats, meanwhile, have seen small increases in support from high-income counties and counties with high percentages of college-educated populations. Democrats indeed continue to do pretty well in urban settings like Cincinnati, where a high percentage of voters have college degrees. But in Ohio, most voters don't live in places like Cincinnati. In the most recent presidential election, 56% of Ohio voters lived in one of the 76 counties where the percentage of adults with a college degree was below the national average. Just 44% of Ohio voters lived in one of the 12 counties that were above the national average. And although Democrats continue to have the advantage in those highly educated counties, their advantage there has not expanded as much as the advantage that Republicans have in the counties with lower levels of college-educated voters. In 2012, Obama pulled in 46% of Ohio voters in lower-education counties. In 2024, Harris pulled in just 35%. In contrast, Harris's share of voters in higher-education counties was one point lower than Obama's, 55% compared with 56%. More: Ramaswamy rides the Trump wave in Ohio governor race while Yost gets swept aside | Opinion While it is true that Democratic counties are bigger, on average, than the Republican ones, there are a heck of a lot of Republican counties in Ohio. In 2024, for example, 56% of presidential votes came from working-class counties. In addition, a lot of Ohio's counties are getting more Republican each election. Of the Ohio counties that shifted in one direction in each of the last three presidential elections − one of the key indicators identified in the New York Times analysis − 34 of them moved in the direction of Republicans, and just one (Delaware) moved towards Democrats. Democrats are pinning their hopes on the idea that Brown is a different sort of Democrat and that he does well in some of the counties where Republicans have gained ground. But election results suggest that Brown has suffered from a similar erosion in support across Ohio as that experienced by the Democratic presidential candidates. Brown's support from counties with lower levels of college education fell from 47% in 2018 to 38% in 2024, and he ran ahead of Harris in those areas by just three points. Of course, every election is different, and no trend in politics lasts forever. It's possible that Brown doesn't even run, and if he does, maybe he is able to recapture some of the working-class votes that Democrats have lost across the state in recent years. For her part, Amy Acton's background as a medical doctor and her public image as the face of the state's COVID-19 response make it unlikely that she will break through in Ohio's working-class communities. Brown is better positioned than Acton to make a run, but either way, it's a long shot for Ohio Democrats. Mack Mariani is a professor of political science at Xavier University who lives in Wyoming. Contact him on X: @mackmariani. The views and opinions expressed by the author are solely his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of his employer, his wife, this newspaper, the residents of Hyde Park, the pharmaceutical industry, or Dr. Amy Acton. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Winning governor's race a long shot for Ohio Democrats | Opinion
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ohio AG Dave Yost suspends campaign for governor
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost plans to suspend his campaign for governor. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] He released the following statement to his supporters on Friday, announcing the suspension of his campaign: It's never been about me. Public service is in my blood—we talk in the Attorney General's office about doing 'Big Good.' It's why I decided to offer myself as a candidate for governor. It's also why I am suspending my campaign today. The past couple of years of travelling around my beloved state have reconnected me with my roots: the incredible, resilient people and their work ethic, the rich history and breathtaking land, the engines of commerce and prosperity and learning. I will continue to serve them, perhaps for quite a while yet. But it is also apparent that a steep climb to the nomination for governor has become a vertical cliff. I do not wish to divide my political party or my state with a quixotic battle over the small differences between my vision and that of my opponent. I am simply not that important. Ideas do matter, though, and the comeback attempt by Sherrod Brown represents a real and present danger to Ohio's prosperity. Our state has challenges ahead, but we are not Washington, D.C. Columbus needs re-engineering, not demolition. Sherrod Brown and the risky progressive ideas of his party will unwind all of the good that the last 15 years of Republican leadership has brought. This is a time to protect Ohio, not a time for a family squabble. I've spoken at length with many people whose advice and wisdom I respect, and haven't come to this decision quickly or easily. I am especially grateful to those who have pledged to climb the vertical cliff with me anyway, pitons and ropes. And thank you to all those of you who have prayed with and for me in this hour. My term as Ohio Attorney General runs until January 2027. I will continue to fight for Ohio and Ohioans during that time—and I suspect that this is not my final chapter. There is fire in my bones for justice, and the unforced rhythms of grace in my heart (to borrow from the poet Eugene Peterson). A final word for those who would receive it: Faith requires a recipient—one does not simply have faith, but has faith in someone or something. I urge you not to place your faith in any human leader, nor in the government, but in God. In Him is all my hope, and the source of my joy. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost TRENDING STORIES: Report of man with gun causes brief lockdown at Kettering Catholic schools, church No hazardous materials found after evacuation of newly-opened Dayton hotel Report: Kroger stores overcharging consumers on discounted or 'for sale' items The announcement comes a week after the Ohio Republican Party endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy for the Republican nomination for governor. Yost first announced his bid for the Republican nomination in January. He has served as state attorney general, state auditor, and a Delaware County prosecutor and auditor. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Spectrum: Former Sen. Brown; Ohio's DOGE
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — This week on The Spectrum: Former Senator Sherrod Brown is dipping his toe back into public policy. Learn about the new initiative he launched in an effort to put workers' issues at the forefront in Washington. Ohio is getting its own version of DOGE. Hear about who's involved and what they'll be doing. The Ohio Civil Rights Commission is accused of violating civil rights. See what a federal court found the group and its director liable for. The nation's top security officials go on an on-line app to detail a planned military assault. Is that classified information? Our strategist, Republican Mark Weaver and former Democratic Ohio State Senator Lou Gentile weigh in. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
