GOP leaders called Lutnick after crypto PAC's Texas ad buy rattled party insiders.

Republican leaders reached out directly to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick after a crypto super PAC — seeded by his former firm — announced plans to purchase advertising in a competitive Texas race, according to Axios. The move alarmed party insiders who saw the intervention as an unwelcome complication in an already heated contest.

The episode highlights the growing friction between crypto's expanding political ambitions and the established party infrastructure it's trying to work alongside. Super PACs backed by the industry have become a significant force in US elections, but that influence isn't always welcomed by the candidates and party leaders on whose turf they operate.