Brad Finstad took $23,000 linked to the CCP. Jake is calling on him to give it back.

WINONA, MN — Earlier this week, Rep. Brad Finstad introduced a bill that he claims will go after technology risks from the Chinese Communist Party, warning about tech companies “closely affiliated with communist China.” Today, for the first time, Jake Johnson is pointing out that Finstad took money from a registered lobbyist for a Chinese data center company. Jake is calling on Finstad to return that check and to return the additional $22,500 he has taken from a Chinese state-owned corporation.

“Brad Finstad received money from a lobbyist for a Chinese data center company just 13 days after he voted to speed up the construction of data centers,” said Jake Johnson. “Now he wants us to believe he’s the one who will protect us from Chinese tech? Folks in southern Minnesota are already worried about data centers driving up their electric bills and China buying up our farmland, and they sure didn’t expect their congressman to be taking $23,000 linked to the Chinese Communist Party. Brad should give the money back. I’ll stand up to China, not sell out to it.”

Photo courtesy of Jake Johnson for Congress. Media use permitted with attribution.

The check. On Dec. 31, 2025, Finstad’s campaign took $500 from Van D. Hipp Jr., a registered lobbyist for Bitdeer Technologies Group. Hipp’s firm reported lobbying the Commerce and State departments for Bitdeer on “cryptocurrency mining and onshoring manufacturing for advanced semiconductors.”
The timing. The check came 13 days after Finstad voted for the SPEED Act, which speeds up federal permitting for data centers.
The CCP ties. The Texas Standard featured Bitdeer in its reporting on Chinese-owned crypto mines and the national security and power grid concerns they raise. Bitdeer was founded by Jihan Wu, who a New York Times reporter described to the Texas Standard as “born in China, raised in China,” and who co-founded Bitmain, the Chinese bitcoin mining-chip giant. Bitdeer was spun off from Bitmain in 2021 in a likely effort to shield it from scrutiny from the U.S. Commerce Department and U.S. national security investigations, and Wu has since moved to Singapore, where Bitdeer lists its headquarters.
The power bill. Bitdeer runs data centers and bitcoin mines. Its Texas site alone uses about as much electricity as 300,000 homes, according to the Texas Standard.
The security risk. Finstad’s bill is about “cyber espionage risks” from Chinese tech. Bitmain, the company Bitdeer was spun off from, has been the subject of a Department of Homeland Security investigation into whether its machines could be used for espionage or to sabotage the power grid. The Commerce Department blacklisted a Bitmain affiliate for “acting at the behest of Beijing.”
Not the first time. Finstad has also taken $22,500 from the PAC of Syngenta, which is owned by a Chinese state-owned company that the Pentagon lists as a “Chinese military company.” Syngenta owns hundreds of acres of farmland in Goodhue County. Finstad has voted against stopping Chinese companies from buying more farmland, and has also voted to shield pesticide companies including Syngenta for being held liable if their products harm farmers and community members.

REMINDER: Finstad took over $40,000 from data center and utility companies and voted to give over $80 billion in tax breaks to the companies building data centers.

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