One Year Later, Senate Republicans Plagued by Epstein Ties, Votes to Conceal Files

Across the map, Republican Senate candidates’ ties to Epstein and his associates remain a “major issue in the midterm elections” one year after they voted to conceal the Epstein files – protecting billionaire megadonors underwriting their campaigns and Donald Trump over victims of the heinous crimes.

As voters continue to “question what else Republicans may have misled them about,” Democrats in key Senate battleground states across the country “are airing scathing ads linking their Republican foes to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.” 

DSCC Communications Director Maeve Coyle: “One year after Senate Republicans chose to do the bidding of Donald Trump and their billionaire megadonors by voting to conceal the Epstein files, they continue to mislead voters about everything from their ties to Epstein’s associates to the state of the economy – and their refusal to deliver accountability will be a major vulnerability for them in November.”

Read more about the GOP Senators who voted to conceal the Epstein files and their close ties to Epstein and his associates: 

• DAN SULLIVAN IN ALASKA: 
  • Voted against compelling the DOJ to release the files, calling the issue a “political pawn.” 
  • Has taken $10,000 from Epstein associates, including Henry Kravis, who appeared in Epstein’s “little black book,” and Howard Lorber, both named in the files.
  • Sullivan voted to confirm Todd Blanche for Attorney General, ignoring Epstein survivors who asked him for a meeting to discuss their concerns with Blanche’s mishandling of the Epstein files. 
  • Sullivan also voted to confirm Alex Acosta as Secretary of Labor, who gave Epstein a sweetheart deal in 2008.
• ASHLEY MOODY IN FLORIDA:
  • Voted against Democrats’ efforts to release the Epstein files and, as Florida attorney general, failed to use her position to seek further justice for Epstein’s victims and worked against the interests of sexual assault victims.
  • Moody voted to confirm Todd Blanche for Attorney General, and even defended Blanche during his confirmation hearing as he was being grilled over mishandling of the Epstein files.

• SUSAN COLLINS IN MAINE: 
  • Susan Collins voted against and criticized Democrats’ efforts to release the Epstein files and even ran from reporters when asked.
  • Collins also voted to confirm Alex Acosta as Secretary of Labor, who gave Epstein a sweetheart deal in 2008.
  • Collins has accepted tens of thousands in donations from known Jeffrey Epstein associates to her campaign, and millions more from Epstein-connected billionaires funneled into super PACs backing her.

• JON HUSTED IN OHIO: 
  • Jon Husted voted against Democrats’ efforts to release the Epstein files. 
  • Sherrod Brown’s campaign is running ads on Husted’s failure to stand up for victims. 

Other GOP Senate candidates across the map also harbor close ties to Epstein and his associates: 

• MIKE COLLINS IN GEORGIA: 
  • Was caught on a hot mic saying Trump is in the Epstein files.
  • Later, at Trump’s behest, Collins voted against an attempt to require the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files. 
  • When asked by reporters about the release of the Epstein files, Mike Collins’ campaign “pointed to a recent post from Trump on Truth Social dismissing renewed focus on Epstein as a ‘hoax’ […]”
  • Jon Ossoff is running an ad against Mike Collins’ vote to block release of the Epstein files, even after it was revealed Epstein sexually abused girls as young as 14. The ad contrasts Collins’ record with Ossoff passing a bipartisan law to stop child sex trafficking.

• ASHLEY HINSON IN IOWA: 
  • Hinson voted against an attempt to require the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files. 
  • Hinson has pocketed close to $100,000 from billionaires named in the Epstein files “dozens–and some even hundreds–of times” while calling the push to release the files the “wrong way” and saying she “trust[s] President Trump […] to do the right thing.” 
  • Hinson has been hounded by this issue in her race — at a recent tele-townhall, Hinson was asked three times about her vote against the discharge petition.

• JOHN E. SUNUNU IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: 
  • Sununu’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein are becoming a flashpoint in the state’s Senate race. Notorious child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein wrote that “john sununu, has good stories.” 
  • Recent bombshell reporting from The Washington Post also caught Sununu in a lie about whether he had ever visited Doha, Qatar — a location referenced in the Epstein email exchange.

• MIKE ROGERS IN MICHIGAN: 
  • Rogers criticized a vote to release the Epstein files, saying it wasn’t the “right way to do that,” and argued for more redaction of the files, dismissing calls to release them as “people who just want to be after Trump” and “don’t have anything else” to talk about. 
  • Rogers was “tied to underage sex scandals, abuse allegations, and Epstein-world baggage” after one of his senior campaign leaders “admitted he didn’t believe victims of sex crimes involving three elders linked to his church.”

• MICHAEL WHATLEY IN NORTH CAROLINA: 
  • Downplayed calls to release the Epstein files as Democrats attempting to “try and change the narrative.”
  • Whatley appointed convicted child sex offender Harvey West to leadership roles at the NCGOP, despite West being open at the time about his criminal past that involved sexually abusing three minors. Because of Whatley, West had close access to young people at Republican meetings and events.

• KEN PAXTON IN TEXAS: 
  • Paxton has taken thousands of dollars in donations from an individual who was listed in the Epstein files for an anonymous report to the FBI for potential child sex abuse, and whose family business “once considered buying Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious plane — ‘The Lolita Express’.”
  • Paxton has been under fire for giving an “Epstein-style sweetheart deal” to Adam Hoffman, an admitted child molester who got less than 30 days in jail and does not have to register as a sex offender. 
  • Talarico has called on Paxton to release the “Hoffman files,” and local outlets have reported on the issue’s salience in an Epstein election cycle.