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John Deaton formally entered the race to challenge Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for her seat in Congress yesterday.
"I'm excited to fight for change," Deaton said in a post on X. The new candidate is most well-known for his role as a pro-crypto lawyer in the SEC's battle against Ripple. The company got a partial ruling in its favor last year, but the case isn't over yet.
In response to Deaton entering the race, Warren sent her supporters an email asking that they donate so she can "keep fighting in the Senate." She claimed in the email that her stance against "crypto scams" has made her the target of crypto lobbyists, but she is "not afraid" to take this new challenge on.
https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/1759700615788118168?s=20
A 2023 UMass poll found that 55% of Massachusetts voters approve of the job that Elizabeth Warren is doing. The democrat has held her seat since she won it in 2012, after defeating Scott Brown. While she has the majority of the public's support, the crypto community have largely been against her.
"Warren is the driving force behind the anti-crypto army," Perianne Boring, founder and CEO of blockchain trade association Chamber of Digital Commerce told Decrypt. "She is the lead sponsor of the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, which is a backdoor ban on crypto in the US. Removing Warren from power would absolutely lead to a more pro-crypto political landscape in the US."
John Deaton will be running as a Republican Party member but will need to beat out four other contenders for the GOP nomination before he's officially on the ballot against Elizabeth Warren. Massachusetts Republicans and Democrats will hold their U.S. Senate primaries on September 3rd.
https://twitter.com/DeatonforSenate/status/1759935884978225340
Is Deaton Massachusetts' Crypto Candidate?
As a candidate, Deaton has branded himself as a father, cancer survivor, and U.S. marine veteran. But what the crypto community knows himl for is his role in the SEC lawsuit against Ripple.
Back in 2020, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple claiming that it was selling XRP as an unregistered security. This lawsuit had significant implications for Ripple, XRP holders, and the wider crypto market.
"John stepped into that fight on behalf of 75,000 XRP token holders who were negatively impacted by the SEC’s suit against Ripple." Crypto criminal defense lawyer Carlo D'Angelo told Decrypt. "Thanks in part to John’s efforts, the court ultimately ruled in June of 2023 that sales of XRP tokens on secondary markets did not constitute securities offerings."
As a result, the XRP Army has come out in full support for John Deaton as a U.S. Senate candidate. "[I'm] rooting for Deaton even though I am a Dutch citizen," one X user said.
https://twitter.com/XRPcryptowolf/status/1760026345633894444
Deaton's supporters aren't limited to diehard XRP fans though. The wider crypto community have also embraced his announcement due to frustrations with Elizabeth Warren's "anti-crypto" influence.
"There is a growing movement in Congress to essentially overregulate crypto into extinction. They continue to push a widely debunked narrative that crypto’s only use-case is to facilitate fraud and money laundering." D'Angelo said, "John is a hugely respected figure in the pro-crypto movement who has never been afraid to stand up for consumers and push back against government overreach."
Decrypt reached out to Elizabeth Warren and John Deaton for comment, but did not immediately get a response from either campaign.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.