In brief
- Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton announced a new U.S. Senate bid, this time challenging Democratic Sen. Ed Markey in Massachusetts’ 2026 election.
- Deaton, a Republican, previously lost to Sen. Elizabeth Warren by nearly 20 points, but gained national attention as a pro-crypto candidate.
- His new campaign does not appear to focus on crypto as a policy issue, though it accepts crypto donations.
Pro-XRP attorney and Crypto Twitter mainstay John Deaton formally announced another U.S. Senate bid late Monday, after failing to unseat noted industry critic Elizabeth Warren last fall.
Deaton will run in next year’s midterm election against Sen. Ed Markey, Massachusetts’ other Democratic senator. The crypto-focused attorney is running as a Republican, and the party’s state leadership will soon vote on whether to endorse him—a move that would likely clinch his spot on the Republican ballot line in the general election.
Deaton told Decrypt earlier this year that he was likely to enter the race, given the name recognition he said he accumulated in his unsuccessful 2024 run against Warren.
Deaton’s odds of victory against Warren in that race were a longshot, given that Massachusetts is one of the most reliably blue-voting states in the country. They could be even slimmer in a matchup against Markey.
Why? Because last year, Deaton was able to gain national attention running as a pro-crypto candidate against Warren, perhaps the industry’s most prominent foil in Congress, at a crucial juncture for digital asset regulation. While those conditions were not nearly enough to push Deaton over the edge—he ultimately lost to Warren by nearly 20 points—they did send plenty of financial support from the crypto industry flowing to his campaign.
This time around, things may look a bit different. While many in the crypto industry view Markey as an enemy, Massachusetts’ junior senator is a far less prominent perceived threat than Warren. And whereas the industry viewed itself as waging an existential fight for survival last November, the second Trump administration’s aggressively pro-crypto moves have calmed much of that worry.
As one sign of the changing times, Deaton’s new campaign site’s “Issues” page makes no mention of crypto policy—though a biography of the attorney does mention his interest in crypto and advocacy for XRP holders. The site also allows visitors to donate to Deaton’s campaign in numerous cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and meme coins BONK, Dogecoin, Dogwifhat, and Peanut the Squirrel.
In March, Deaton told Decrypt that he saw a path to victory against Markey in 2026—so long as the crypto industry’s mighty political spending PACs, particularly Fairshake, backed him up.
Even in last year’s race against Warren, Fairshake did not back Deaton, opting to instead focus on closer, swing-state races. A Fairshake representative did not respond when asked by Decrypt whether the PAC will back Deaton this time around.
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