French Hill’s race still too close to call as House flips, changing the direction of crypto legislation

As of Wednesday afternoon, House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill's race for reelection is too close to call as a Democratic takeover in the House is set to usher in a new slate of leaders and reshape the future of crypto legislation in Congress.On Tuesday night into Wednesday, Hill has been neck and neck with Democratic candidate Chris Jones in Arkansas, according to the Associated Press, with 99% of votes already reported. Hill held a slim lead at publication time.Hill has led the House Financial Services Committee for the past two years, during which members passed the first federal framework for stablecoins as well as a sweeping crypto bill. The latter stalled in the Senate in September. Crypto political action committee Fairshake and other PACs spent $1 million on Hill's campaign, according to reporting from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.Other crypto-friendly lawmakers also secured reelection, including Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., and current House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn "GT" Thompson, R-Pa. Later in the day on Wednesday, Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-MI., who is viewed favorably by the crypto industry, lost his seat to Democratic candidate Sean McCann, according to the Associated Press.Candidate Shomari Figures beat Republican candidate Rhett Marques in Alabama. Figures was endorsed by crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto, given his vote on sweeping digital asset legislation called the Clarity Act.With the House flipping control, Democrats will usher in the agenda for key congressional committees that have jurisdiction over crypto and prediction markets. Top Democrat Maxine Waters will likely take back her spot as House Financial Services Committee chair, leaving Hill out of his top spot, but likely to be the top Republican on that committee.Waters is still expected to take up the spot again as chair, but has since been challenged by Democratic Reps. Sean Casten and Bill Foster. Some Democrats have signaled that they want "generational change," given that Waters is 88 years old and Casten is 54, according to reporting from Politico last month.Regarding crypto, Waters worked on the stablecoin framework dubbed the GENIUS Act and has shown an openness to writing rules for the industry. However, she has also criticized the industry following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and, later, President Donald Trump's crypto interests and how that can influence regulation.