The Epstein Reckoning Hits the Midterm Campaign Trail

This story was originally reported by Grace Panetta of The 19th. Meet Grace and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

As Republicans gathered in Dallas, Texas for their pre-midterm convention last week, Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico focused on survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. 

Talarico got a tour of the Reading Room, a traveling exhibit of the nearly 3 million files that the Department of Justice released from its investigation into the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender — the result of a hard-fought battle by survivors of Epstein’s abuse who are still seeking justice and transparency from a government they say repeatedly failed them. 

Speaking alongside Epstein survivors Annie Farmer and Sharlene Rochard, Talarico praised them for their courage in coming forward and attacked his Republican opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, for not meeting with the survivors and what he said was “a history of covering up abuse.” Talarico called on Paxton to use his authority to sue the Justice Department over its handling of the release of the files connected to Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for federal sex trafficking charges.   

“When did pedophilia become a partisan issue? When did holding sexual abusers accountable become controversial? When did Ken Paxton decide it was OK to ignore these survivors?” Talarico said. 

“I am tired of seeing powerful people cover up abuse. I think we’re all tired of it — Democrats, Republicans and independents alike,” he added. 

Republicans currently enjoy an advantage as the party voters trust more on crime — 45 percent of voters said they trusted the GOP the most on the issue in a 2025 Pew Research Center survey, up from 40 percent in 2023. It’s typically been GOP candidates who have run attack ads hitting their opponents as being “soft” on crime. But the dynamics around crime messaging have shifted with the national spotlight on the Epstein files and the bipartisan push for more accountability for Epstein’s crimes — an issue that Democratic strategists and pollsters say has rare, high levels of crossover support. 

And Democrats in races from Arizona to North Carolina are attacking their Republican opponents for their votes not just on the Epstein files, but on their ties to other sex offenders and their records on cases of sexual abuse. 

In Texas’ Senate race, Talarico has also slammed Paxton for his office offering what he called an “Epstein-style” plea deal to a defendant, Waco attorney Adam Hoffman, who was charged with sexually abusing a minor. After Hoffman’s trial ended in a hung jury, the prosecution offered a deal that would have allowed him to serve just one day in jail, which sparked public outrage and was rejected by the judge in the case. Hoffman eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and was sentenced to 60 days in jail but was not required to register as a sex offender. 

In a letter to a Republican state lawmaker earlier this year, the career prosecutors who tried the case said the outcome was in the best interest of the child victim, who did not wish to voluntarily testify in a second trial. 

The day after the GOP convention last week, Talarico’s campaign debuted a new television ad attacking Paxton over the plea deal. 

“Ken Paxton’s corruption endangers our kids,” the ad says. “We don’t need any more pedophile protectors in Washington.” 

Paxton’s campaign responded by highlighting a pro-Talarico super PAC taking $11.5 million in donations from Reid Hoffman, a venture capitalist, tech founder and Democratic megadonor who crossed paths with Epstein through his work with the MIT Media Lab in the 2010s, after Epstein became a convicted sex offender. Hoffman apologized in 2019 for associating with Epstein.

“James Talarico continues to lie to Texans about his radical record with the help of Epstein money. It’s disgusting that the man claiming to run a campaign against billionaires is bought and paid for by Epstein’s billionaire buddy,” Paxton campaign spokesperson Madison Cercy said in a statement to The 19th.

President Donald Trump, who spoke both nights at the Dallas convention and has backed Paxton, also had ties to Epstein, but he says they stopped associating well before Epstein became a convicted sex offender. Trump himself in 2024 was found guilty of falsifying business records, and in 2023 was found liable for sexual abuse in a case over accusations from the 1990s.

Also last week, the North Carolina Democratic Party aired digital ads on conservative media platforms hitting the state’s Republican U.S. Senate nominee, Michael Whatley, for his ties to Harvey West Jr., a GOP donor and convicted sex offender whom Whatley repeatedly elevated to top posts within the state Republican Party.   

Whatley, an ex-Republican National Committee chair endorsed by Trump, is running against former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper for the seat opened up by retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis. 

Democrats and Republicans alike have scrutinized Whatley for his ties to West, a former police officer who was charged with the statutory rape of three minor girls. West pleaded guilty to lesser charges of taking indecent liberties with minors in 2000, serving six years in prison and registering as a sex offender. Earlier this summer, a national Democratic super PAC unveiled $2.3 million in digital ads attacking Whatley over the matter.

“If this is who Whatley hires for a job, why would we ever hire Whatley for the Senate?” said the ad from the WinSenate PAC.  

Whatley’s campaign has dismissed the criticisms over his elevation of West as a “distraction” and a “smear.” Whatley has also made attacking Cooper on crime and public safety central to his campaign message, including by criticizing the early release of some incarcerated people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cooper has called the attacks misleading.  

“Michael Whatley spent his career appointing a convicted child sex predator who served six years in prison and spent over a decade as a registered sex offender to a top role within the North Carolina Republican Party – North Carolinians deserve better,” a Cooper campaign spokesperson said in a statement to The 19th. 

And another convicted sex offender who served time in prison for crimes against children recently delivered the opening prayer at a rally in support of Whatley’s campaign, the Associated Press reported Friday. Whatley’s campaign told the outlet it did not organize the rally or choose any of the speakers. 

In Arizona, both Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and Republicans have criticized the GOP gubernatorial nominee, U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, for his handling of legislation aimed at addressing law enforcement corruption in enabling the abuse of women and children within the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The polygamist religious cult led by Warren Jeffs, who is currently serving a life sentence for child sex assault, had a stronghold in the small Arizona town of Colorado City, including over local law enforcement.  

In 2013, a bill that would have given the state the ability to take over the Colorado City marshals overwhelmingly passed in the state House. But Biggs, then a state senator and president of the upper chamber, didn’t bring it to a vote in the Senate, drawing ire from lawmakers in both parties. Hobbs’ campaign and its allies have hit Biggs over the issue with a website and a documentary-style video.     

Biggs has defended his handling of the matter, pointing to his background as a prosecutor and his past votes to decertify the Colorado City Police Department. 

“Whatever she wants to say, it’s bogus, it’s crap and it’s a lie,” Biggs said in a recent interview on local radio station KTAR News. 

“First of all, that particular bill was so poorly crafted that the Fraternal Order of Police and the Arizona Association of Police opposed it,” he added. “Second of all, I have a record of protecting women and children that’s unparalleled.” 

Two Democrats running to flip competitive House seats, Christina Hines in Michigan and Shannon Taylor in Virginia, are running on their records prosecuting crimes against women and children and holding the powerful to account. 

Taylor, a local prosecutor running against U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman in Virginia’s 1st District, has made her record on public safety and fighting corruption central to her campaign. 

Last week, she released a television ad highlighting her willingness to go after members of her own party. The ad points to the prosecution of former Democratic state lawmaker Joe Morrissey, who entered an Alford plea to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in 2014 after being charged with multiple felonies stemming from a sexual relationship with his then-teenage receptionist. He denied wrongdoing and was pardoned in 2022.   

“As Henrico’s top prosecutor, I didn’t care that he was a Democrat, or the pressure I got to make it go away, so I called for a special prosecutor,” she said, referring to her post as the commonwealth attorney for Henrico County. “I’m Shannon Taylor, and I approve this message because doing what’s right matters more than politics.”  

Hines, who has a background as a sex crimes prosecutor, is running against Mike Bouchard Jr.  for an open seat in Michigan’s 10th District in the Detroit suburbs. 

“In my stump speech, I always talk about how Congress actually needs a sexual assault prosecutor right now more than ever,” Hines told The 19th in an interview in July before going out to knock on doors. 

Not a week of her campaign goes by, she said, without someone sharing their own story of abuse with her. 

“This is a rampant issue in our society, and I end up talking to people all over the place that that is a top issue for them in their life,” Hines added. “And they might not tell everybody else, but it matters to them that I have that background.”