The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee began the week by adding six candidates to its “Red to Blue” list, signaling party support in difficult races. Donald Trump won those six districts in 2024 by an average margin of more than 16 points.

One newly targeted contest stands out: Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, which includes most of Little Rock and its suburbs. Democrat Chris Jones is challenging Republican Rep. French Hill, the current chair of the House Financial Services Committee and one of Wall Street’s strongest congressional allies.

Hill has received $1.46 million in PAC donations this cycle, according to Open Secrets. Four of his five leading contributing industries are commercial banks, security brokers and investment firms, cryptocurrency companies, and life insurance companies.

Commercial banks have contributed $430,000, while security brokers and investment firms provided $247,000. Cryptocurrency companies gave $174,000, and life insurance companies added $165,000, with the figures current through the end of June.

Hill’s biggest donors include Robinhood, MetLife, Coinbase, Virtu, and the Mortgage Bankers Association. Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman and Charles Schwab have each contributed the maximum amount.

That financial firepower has not prevented Republicans from pouring additional money into the race. Punchbowl News reported that Hill has received $1.5 million in Republican support since August, including $500,000 from the Committee for American Leadership.

That group, formed in July, has compared Jones to AOC and Bernie Sanders in one advertisement and made vague corruption claims in another. Defend American Jobs, a conservative PAC based around Washington, is spending a similar amount to support Hill.

An upset would cost the financial industry a powerful champion. Hill is a former CEO of Arkansas firm Delta Trust & Banking Corporation who has placed himself at the center of deregulatory efforts over the past decade.

Other Republican members of the Financial Services Committee are also facing competitive races. Michigan Rep. Bill Huizenga is running against Sean McCann, while Missouri Rep. Ann Wagner faces Fred Wellman after the state’s gerrymandered map was invalidated.

Wisconsin Rep. Bryan Steil is competing against emergency room nurse Mitchell Berman. Reps. Mike Lawler of New York, Monica De La Cruz of Texas, Zach Nunn of Iowa, and Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida could also be vulnerable in a Democratic wave.

Banks still command enormous political influence, even as Silicon Valley has become another major center of corporate power. A Public Citizen report found that the Trump administration canceled 50 enforcement operations against financial institutions.

A Guardrails Alliance poll found that around 79% of voters surveyed in Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio were concerned about Wall Street’s influence in elections. Similar numbers expressed concern about the cryptocurrency industry’s political influence.

Carter Dougherty of Demand Progress said that resentment toward political spending has accumulated among voters. “If billionaires pump money into elections, they should not be surprised that their cash generates resentment in a democratic society.”

Banks generally direct their money to individual politicians, as they have with Hill. Cryptocurrency companies instead have assembled large super PAC operations, including an expected $30 million effort in Ohio’s Senate race against former Sen. Sherrod Brown.

The industry also spent against Brown in 2024, but waited to see whether the Senate would pass the deregulatory CLARITY Act, which failed. Brown has not trailed in a credible poll since June, suggesting the industry’s late spending has not worked so far.

“Dropping millions in a Senate race like in Ohio is increasingly a political liability,” said Mark Hays with Americans for Financial Reform and Demand Progress. “Voters are right: crypto shouldn’t be trying to use political money to buy whatever policy they like.”

Fairshake, the cryptocurrency industry’s main super PAC, has announced support for 32 House members, including 19 Democrats and 13 Republicans. Hill, Huizenga, and Steil are each set to receive at least $1 million in support.

Most of Fairshake’s backing is headed to safe districts where the group can claim victories afterward without greatly affecting outcomes. Meanwhile, even cryptocurrency supporters have criticized Trump’s coin corruption for making the industry appear filled with scammers.

Public Citizen reported that Trump’s coin ventures cost investors $4.7 billion while Trump and his family collected $1.4 billion. The backlash suggests that giving cryptocurrency companies what they want can become an electoral burden, including among people who use cryptocurrency.

Americans are increasingly drawn to populist market interventions during a cost of living crisis, including price caps and limits on corporate control of housing and health care. That environment could threaten some of Wall Street’s most reliable allies in Washington.