Overview
- Senior Republican officials contacted Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick after a new filing showed Fellowship PAC planned a $1.75 million ad buy to boost Ken Paxton in Texas.
- The reported ad buy never occurred, and no pro-Paxton ads aired, according to multiple sources and the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.
- The National Republican Senatorial Committee condemned the reported plan as “pure political malpractice,” reflecting concern about fallout in a close Senate contest.
- It remains unclear whether Lutnick took any steps after the outreach, though he divested from Cantor Fitzgerald last year and his sons now run the firm.
- Fellowship PAC, which reported ties to Tether, raised about $11 million by mid-April including $10 million from Cantor Fitzgerald and $1 million from Anchor Labs, in a cycle where crypto groups spent an estimated $120–$130 million in 2024 and more than 100 firms urged Congress this week to advance market-structure rules.