Democrat backed by Ripple co-founder’s PAC wins Colorado primary

Colorado’s Democratic and Republican primaries finished on Tuesday, with at least one candidate supported by $1 million from a crypto-aligned PAC going to the November general election.

Manny Rutinel, a Democratic candidate running to represent Colorado’s 8th congressional district, has won his party’s primary and will head to the November election after being supported by a crypto-aligned political action committee (PAC).

Early on Wednesday, Rutinel reported that he would be the Democratic nominee for Colorado’s 8th district, having won with 61.7% of the vote against Shannon Bird’s 33.6%. Before the primary, the You Can Push Back Super PAC, backed by $3.5 million from Ripple Labs co-founder Chris Larsen, reportedly spent $1 million on media to support Rutinel’s run.

The Colorado Democrat has a “strongly supports crypto” rating from the Coinbase-affiliated Stand With Crypto organization, based on his answers to questions about stablecoins, market structure and regulatory clarity. Coinbase is also a major contributor to the Fairshake PAC, which supports what it considers “pro-crypto” Democratic and Republican candidates for Congress.