Epstein Attack Ads Flood Midterm Races as Both Parties Trade Accusations Over Ties and Votes

In Colorado, a television ad aimed at Republican Jeff Crank features the family of Virginia Giuffre, a woman who survived abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and died by suicide last year. In it, her relatives claim Crank "covered up Epstein's crimes to protect Donald Trump." It is one of a wave of Epstein-themed spots now running in midterm races as the country prepares to vote.

The scale is large. A CNN analysis found that candidates and outside groups have spent more than $35m on Epstein-related ads. A separate Washington Post analysis found that Democrats alone spent more than $40m on such ads across six key Senate races. The Democratic spots, from candidates and from groups supporting them, accuse Republicans of protecting pedophiles because they voted against legislation to release the Epstein files. The wording, accusing candidates of "protecting" a notorious pedophile accused of running a sex-trafficking ring involving minors, appears designed to provoke an emotional response.

The targets are spread across the map. In Iowa, Senate candidate Ashley Hinson was accused of refusing to vote for release in order to "protect her donors." In Georgia, an ad against Republican Senate candidate Mike Collins says he voted against releasing the files even after he knew Epstein's operation exploited 14-year-old girls. In Florida, Republican Jimmy Patronis was attacked by his Democratic opponent, who claimed he called investigating Epstein "a waste of his time."

The votes at the center of the ads trace back to last year, when Democrats and a few House Republicans used a discharge petition, a procedure that bypasses the usual legislative steps, to try to force a floor vote on the files. Trump, who knew Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, opposed the petition, reversing a campaign promise to increase government transparency. Most House Republicans aligned with him, which angered some high-profile Trump voters. Under pressure from allies, Trump eventually backed the legislation and gave Republicans the go-ahead. All but one House Republican then voted for the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

That last fact is what many of the ads leave out. They point to Republicans' opposition to the early effort to force the bill to the floor, not to the final vote, when Trump had already agreed to sign it. Republicans have seized on the omission. "Of course I voted to release the Epstein files," Hinson says in a direct-to-camera ad, accusing her opponent, Josh Turek, of lying. She did vote for the final act, though she never signed the discharge petition. In another ad she says: "This week I had to explain to my boys, 'No, Mom does not protect pedophiles.'"

Some of the specific claims are contested. Patronis never called the investigation a "waste of time." He told a local radio station he had "no problem getting everything all released," but called the matter a "massive energy and time suck at the end of the day." His campaign spokesperson, Melissa Stone, pointed to his work with Trump on disaster funding after Hurricane Isaias and said his opponent, Gay Valimont, was still talking about a dead pedophile in a web video instead of helping the district recover.

Crank's campaign called the ad "intentionally vague" in a statement to the Washington Post. It said his position was that he would vote against release until he was confident victim information was properly redacted. It also called it "unfortunate" that his opponent, Jessica Killin, was "preying on a grieving family with the help of the Washington Democrats." The New York Times reported that Crank's staff invited and met with Giuffre's family, though Crank did not meet them in person. His campaign says it offered to meet with Epstein victims before the vote.

Republicans and allied groups are also turning the issue around, accusing Democrats of taking money from donors with Epstein ties. In a Georgia Senate debate, Collins accused Jon Ossoff of accepting donations from tech billionaire Reid Hoffman, who has said he knew Epstein only through fundraising relationships and regrets it. "This call is coming from inside the house," Collins said, "and the Epstein class is on stage right now and it's you."

In New Mexico's governor's race, an outside group accused Democrat Deb Haaland of riding on Epstein's private jet and taking "tens of thousands of dollars from Epstein businesses." Haaland did not fly on Epstein's jet, but she did take a flight booked in 2014 by one of his companies. She has said she did not know the chartered flight was tied to an Epstein-owned company. How voters respond in the closest races will show whether the issue moves any results.