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A crypto attorney is eying a Senate race against Elizabeth Warren. Here’s what to know.
John Deaton is reportedly eyeing a challenge to Warren this fall. He has previously called her a "government overreach hack."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren appears to have a new Republican challenger set to take her on this fall.
John Deaton, a prominent cryptocurrency attorney and advocate, is planning to mount a campaign in the hopes of defeating Warren, multiple outlets — including The Boston Globe and Politico — reported this week.
Deaton, who posts frequently about cryptocurrency on social media, called out Warren in a post on X (formerly Twitter) last December. Deaton said he was living in Rhode Island at the time, but was pondering a move to Massachusetts to run against Warren. He did not predict a victory over the popular incumbent, but said he would relish the opportunity to campaign against her.
Deaton moved to Swansea last month, allowing him to run against Warren, the Globe reported. He has been working with Jim Conroy, an ally of former Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, to explore the possibility of a senate campaign.
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Warren announced last year that she would seek reelection. She defeated incumbent GOP Sen. Scott Brown in 2012, and easily fended off Geoff Diehl in 2018. She ran for president beginning in 2019, but her campaign eventually fizzled out and she backed Joe Biden in 2020.
Warren is known for prioritizing economic issues and has sharply criticized cryptocurrencies in recent years. In the CNBC clip that Deaton responded to, Warren said that cryptocurrencies were a “new threat” being used to finance terrorism, drug trafficking and nuclear weapons programs in North Korea.
Deaton, a Michigan native, worked for years as an attorney representing clients in asbestos and mesothelioma cases, the Globe reported. He has since shifted his focus to cryptocurrency advocacy and litigation. He launched a website, Cyptolaw.com, in 2021 to “provide a central location” for people to access information on cryptocurrency issues and blockchain technology.
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In an online biography for his law firm, Deaton is portrayed as someone whose past financial struggles made him a champion for members of the working class. He and five siblings were raised by a single mother in Detroit, and he became interested in asbestos law when a family member was diagnosed with cancer. He served as an active duty officer in the U.S. Marine Corps for seven years, and developed a “never retreat attitude” that he subsequently brought to courtrooms, according to the biography.
Deaton was arrested for assault in 2017, the Globe reported. The incident was also mentioned in his 2023 memoir, “Food Stamp Warrior.” Deaton reportedly attended a football game with his girlfriend to support her son at Barrington High School in Rhode Island. Deaton wrote that he was provoked by another man and shoved him at the game. The charges were dismissed, and Deaton was ordered to do 30 hours of community service.
“There’s nothing they can threaten me with and no skeleton in the closet. I confessed all my secrets and skeletons in my book,” Deaton wrote in a post on X last December.
Deaton has attacked Warren and also prominent Republicans on social media. Last October, he called Warren a “[gas] lighting, self-serving hypocrite” and lamented that he had not bought a house in Massachusetts. In November 2020, Deaton called former President Donald Trump a “political hack” who “defines embarrassment.” He blasted Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic California Rep. Nancy Pelosi for being “corrupt” last September.
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Deaton is ready to seed a potential campaign with $500,000 of his own money, the Globe reported.
Warren and her team are adept at fundraising. She raised more than $850,000 for her reelection campaign in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the Globe, and brought in millions more earlier in the year. She is expected to help President Biden’s reelection campaign and other major Democrats around the country in 2024.
“She has a strong record of delivering for working families and continues to fight hard for the people of Massachusetts,” a spokesperson for Warren told the Globe without commenting on Deaton.
But Warren “is taking nothing for granted,” the spokesperson also told the paper.
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