How the Epstein files fueled $35 million in midterm ad blitz

Jeffrey Epstein has been dead for seven years, but he’s all over campaign ads this election season, invoked overwhelmingly by Democrats — and occasionally by Republicans — to attack opponents or promote themselves.

A CNN analysis found that candidates and outside groups have aired more than 160 unique Epstein-related ads in the 2026 midterms, backed by more than $35 million in airtime. That marks a striking jump from the 2024 presidential election, when only three such ads aired — all in local Florida races, where the Epstein scandal first erupted.

President Donald Trump and his allies helped keep the issue alive during the 2024 campaign by promising greater transparency and raising expectations that more Epstein records would be released. But this year, Democrats are driving the advertising surge, accounting for nearly 90% of the ads identified by CNN this cycle.

The ads underscore the political potency of the Epstein saga, nearly a year after the Justice Department released millions of pages of files following a bruising political fight led mostly by Democrats in Congress. While public pressure for accountability has been building for years, the issue hasn’t featured prominently in elections – until this season.

Polling from the spring shows majorities of voters from both political parties believed the Epstein files showed that powerful people are rarely held accountable for their actions, but it’s unclear how the issue is playing out in the midterm elections.

Many of the attack ads feature misleading or even false claims about their opponents, including criticism over failing to vote for the release of the Epstein files, and, sometimes, tenuous ties to former Epstein associates or the so-called “Epstein class.”

The bulk of Epstein ad spending has gone toward battleground Senate races, reflecting the intensity of the messaging efforts there. Contests in Georgia, Texas and Ohio rank as the top three in terms of money spent on Epstein-related ads, with much of that money coming from well-funded Democrats making the controversy a point of emphasis in their campaigns.

In Georgia, more than $10 million has been spent on ads related to Epstein, according to data from Ad Impact, with more than three quarters of that money coming directly from the campaign of Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. He has repeatedly attacked his opponent, Republican Rep. Mike Collins, casting Collins as a Trump loyalist who voted against releasing the Epstein files.

Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

“Mike Collins voted to cover up the Epstein files. Even after he knew 14-year-old girls had been raped,” said a former US marshal in one Ossoff Facebook ad . “He tried to tell us it was a hoax.”

But that ad is misleading.

Collins, along with all but nine House Republicans, voted against a procedural vote to release the files in July 2025, but he ultimately did vote for the release of the files in November of last year after Trump, reversing course, encouraged Republicans to vote for it. Collins also did not directly use the word “hoax,” but his team pointed to a Trump Truth Social post calling it the “Jeffrey Epstein Hoax” to deflect against a government shutdown.

Collins, in turn, has accused Ossoff of hypocrisy for accepting campaign donations from tech billionaire Reid Hoffman, a liberal donor and former Epstein associate who once visited Epstein’s private island. (Hoffman has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein’s crimes and has expressed regret for his association with Epstein.) Collins then challenged Ossoff to return the money.

Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Breakthrough T1D

JP Yim/Getty Images for Clinton Global Initiative

And in Ohio, more than $6 million has been spent on Epstein ads. Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who lost the seat in 2024, and Republican Sen. Jon Husted have both bent the truth to attack the other over campaign donations from “associates” of Epstein.

Brown has launched ad after ad attempting to tie Husted to Les Wexner, the Ohio-based billionaire and former Victoria’s Secret CEO who once employed Epstein as his money manager. The Epstein files indicated Wexner was at one time considered a potential co-conspirator to Epstein’s crimes by the FBI.

“Husted’s taken over $116,000 from one of Epstein’s closest friends and co-conspirators, and last year took a maximum donation from him just weeks before voting to block the release of the Epstein files. Jon Husted: Who’s he really working for?” the narrator of one anti-Husted ad read .

Wexner, who has denied any allegations of wrongdoing related to Epstein, contributed to Husted over a 20-year period. Husted also accepted a donation from Wexner as recently as the summer of 2025.

Kent Nishimura/Reuters

Husted voted against a release of the files by the attorney general in a procedural vote that September, though he later voted in November 2025 unanimously with the rest of the Senate to release the files after Trump, facing pressure, urged Republicans to vote in favor of it.

A spokesperson for Husted, Amy Natoce, stated the campaign donated more than $34,000 to anti-sex trafficking charities from available funds. Previous funds donated from Wexner were already spent and no longer accessible.

In turn, Husted responded with an ad of his own, calling Brown a liar: “Thirty-two years in DC made Sherrod Brown a liar. The truth: Jon Husted voted to release the Epstein files while Senator Brown took $100,000 from Epstein associates,” said the ad’s narrator.

The Husted campaign provided CNN with a breakdown of those alleged Brown donors with ties to Epstein, including Hoffman and former Harvard president Larry Summers.

But the list also includes donors who have tenuous connections to Epstein or whose connection predates Epstein’s mid-2000s arrest, such as billionaire philanthropist George Soros, hedge fund billionaire David E. Shaw and Hollywood agent Casey Wasserman.

In Texas, Democrat James Talarico’s campaign has spent at least $4.9 million on ads regarding a plea deal Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office made with an alleged child sex offender to serve just a total of one day in jail.

The ad ’s narrator called the deal “an Epstein-style sweetheart deal for a well-connected child predator” before saying: “Ken Paxton’s corruption endangers our kids. We don’t need any more pedophile protectors in Washington.”

Epstein cut a secret and unprecedented deal with federal prosecutors nearly two decades ago that allowed him to avoid federal sex trafficking charges and serve just 13 months in a county prison on state prostitution charges, including one that involved a minor. Epstein continued to abuse young girls and women even while he was on house arrest, according to survivors.

Paxton’s office’s plea deal sparked outrage in the state earlier this year, even drawing a rebuke from the judge. The case initially resulted in a mistrial, leaving prosecutors to choose between retrying the case or agreeing to a plea deal with the offender.

Kylie Cooper/Reuters

Testifying in court can often retraumatize victims, particularly minors, and the victim and their family declined to do so again. That led the prosecutors to forge a plea deal, one the victim’s family signed off on.

Paxton defended the plea deal at a campaign event in late September. “It’s more important to make sure that this kid is protected than to get the verdict that we actually want. So, it’s so dishonest to present it any other way because that’s actually what happened,” he said.

The victim’s family has said publicly they are “tired of being used in this election.”

Epstein ads have recently flooded the airwaves in key Senate races in Iowa, Maine , Alaska and Kansas , too.

In Colorado, the family of Virginia Giuffre, the most high-profile Epstein abuse survivor who died by suicide in 2025, appeared in an attack ad from Democrat Jessica Killin against Republican Rep. Jeff Crank, who represents the state’s 5th Congressional District.

Giuffre’s brother and sister-in-law say that Crank refused to meet with them as his constituents and that he voted to cover up the Epstein files.

“Virginia deserved better,” said Sky Roberts, Giuffre’s brother, addressing the camera. “Jeff Crank covered up Epstein’s crimes to protect Donald Trump.”

Heather Diehl/Getty Images

Crank did not sign onto a bipartisan petition to release the Epstein files and voted to block its consideration on the House floor. But he ultimately voted in favor of releasing them last November after Trump urged such a vote.

A spokesperson for Crank told CNN a Republican Congress released the files and called the ad’s claims “intentionally vague” and unsupported by the facts.”

Some ads grossly distort a candidate’s ties to Epstein and indict anyone who has been mentioned in the files. Inclusion in the Epstein files does not inherently indicate wrongdoing.

In Nebraska, Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts painted independent Dan Osborn in multiple ads as a money-hungry politician cashing in on campaign checks. One ad said that Osborn was “funded by members of the Epstein class” and criticized him for fundraising with an “alleged Epstein trafficker.”

That ad name checks Dana Chasin, a Democratic operative whose name appears once within the files as part of a 2024 email in which a lawyer representing a woman said she had flown on Chasin’s “small prop plane” to Epstein’s New York home. The woman alleges she was later sexually abused by a billionaire investor associate of Epstein’s.

Chasin denied the allegations, telling Politico in February that “nothing pertaining to me in the March 2024 email” was true and that he had never met Epstein, Maxwell or those named associates.

CNN reached out to Chasin but did not receive a response.

The Osborn campaign cancelled a fundraising event with Chasin in February and said it donated money Chasin contributed to an anti-sex trafficking nonprofit. Conservative outlet The Daily Wire later reported i t was still soliciting donations on the ActBlue platform for that event that month after the campaign shut it down.

A spokesperson for Osborn’s campaign called it “laughable” to tie Osborn to Epstein.

The Ricketts campaign responded by raising questions about when Osborn cancelled the fundraiser and whether they donated all of the money for that event.

In early October, Osborn’s campaign launched an ad showing two degrees of separation between Epstein, Ricketts’ donors and Ricketts. “If you want a senator who takes money from Epstein’s circle, Pete Ricketts is your guy,” the ad narrator said.

Austin Johnson/AFP/Getty Images

Win McNamee/Getty Images

In New Hampshire, Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas has targeted Republican John E. Sununu, a former senator running once more, because “his name appears in the Epstein files and [he] denied ever attending an elite event in Doha, Qatar, that Jeffrey Epstein used for networking,” one Facebook ad from the Pappas campaign read .

Sununu’s own campaign later acknowledged he did go to Doha in 2001 and attended the World Economic Forum event there in 2010, which was referenced in emails found within the Epstein files. In a 2010 email, Epstein name checks that “John Sununu” has “ good stories ” in an email referring to the event, but it is unclear which John Sununu — either the former senator or the former governor — Epstein was referring to.

“As reported months ago, neither John nor his father ever met or communicated in any way with Boris Nikolich [sic] or Jeffrey Epstein. John believes Epstein was a despicable human being,” said campaign spokesperson Mike Schrimpf in a statement.

And in New Mexico, an ad from the group Accountable New Mexico targeted gubernatorial Democratic nominee Deb Haaland, claiming she accepted a ride on “one of Epstein’s private jets to a DC fundraiser. She took tens of thousands of dollars from Epstein businesses, and the campaign even went back and asked for more.”

Those claims are misleading, according to local media . In 2014, while Haaland was running as lieutenant governor on the Democratic ticket, she took a flight to DC for a fundraiser, but not on one of Epstein’s private planes. Epstein’s company commissioned the flight after her running mate, then-New Mexico Attorney General Gary King, requested it, according to an email in the files . It is unclear whether Haaland knew that at the time.

The ad misrepresents an email sent to Epstein thanking him for his support, making it appear it was from Haaland. That email was from King.

The ad also claimed Haaland accepted thousands of dollars in campaign donations from Epstein’s companies. However, in New Mexico, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor — despite later running on the same ticket — run separate campaign committees through the general election. King accepted Epstein campaign donations.

Haaland released an ad of her own refuting the attack ad: “Fact checkers say Sam Bregman’s attacks against Deb Haaland are lies. Deb Haaland never flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane, never asked him for money, and supports a full investigation into his crimes,” a narrator said.

Not all of the ads regarding Epstein are attack ads, however. Some candidates are positioning themselves against the so-called “Epstein class,” a term first coined by California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, that has since become a succinct anti-establishment cry for Democrats as they seek to reclaim power this fall.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Ohio Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who faces another tight race for re-election, released an ad highlighting her vote to release the files: “I voted repeatedly to release every word and photo in the Epstein files, and I won’t let it go until they go to prison,” said Kaptur in the ad. “I don’t work for the ‘Epstein class’ — the selfish people that are selling us out. I work for you.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin, a top House Democrat, fundraised against the “Epstein class, the Mar-a-Lago elite” in a Facebook ad that launched in March. Similarly, House Oversight ranking member Robert Garcia has launched ads on Facebook this year to fundraise based off his work on the committee.

Even in longshot House races against Republican leadership candidates are campaigning on the Epstein files.

Conrad Cable, a former English major turned vegetable farmer running in Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District, has launched a handful of ads on Facebook accusing House Speaker Mike Johnson of orchestrating a cover up over the files. As has Lauren Jewett, a Democrat running in Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District against Rep. Steve Scalise, who holds the number two spot in House Republican Leadership.

Self-styled Republican outsiders have also embraced this messaging. Paul Bondar, who unsuccessfully ran in Texas’ 32nd District congressional primary this spring, released an ad expressing his disgust with “the politicians stonewalling the Epstein files and not protecting kids.”

For Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who played a key role in forcing a vote on the release of the Epstein files, the issue became all-encompassing. His campaign touted his efforts in campaign ads. “I’m demanding and leading the charge to ensure the Epstein files, which we were promised would be released, actually are in full,” Massie said in one spot .

But that wasn’t enough to blunt a determined push by Trump and his allies to oust the iconoclastic conservative, as Massie lost in the primary to challenger Ed Gallrein after being targeted by more than $15 million in outside spending.

CNN’s Casey Tolan contributed to this story.

杰弗里·爱泼斯坦已经去世七年了，但在这个选举季，他却频频出现在竞选广告中，绝大多数民主党人——偶尔共和党人——都援引他来攻击对手或宣传自己。

CNN的一项分析发现，在2026年中期选举中，候选人和外部团体投放了超过160条与爱泼斯坦相关的广告，广告投入超过3500万美元。这与2024年总统大选相比有了显著增长，当时仅投放了三条此类广告——全部集中在佛罗里达州的地方选举中，而爱泼斯坦丑闻正是在那里爆发的。

在2024年总统竞选期间，唐纳德·特朗普总统及其盟友承诺提高透明度，并不断提高公众对更多爱泼斯坦案相关记录公布的预期，从而使这一问题持续发酵。但今年，民主党人主导了广告投放的激增，据CNN统计，本轮选举周期中，民主党投放的广告几乎占到了90%。

这些广告凸显了爱泼斯坦事件的政治影响力。此前近一年，司法部在国会民主党人主导的一场激烈的政治斗争后，公布了数百万页文件。尽管公众要求追究责任的呼声已持续多年，但这一问题此前并未在选举中占据显著位置——直到本选举季。

春季的民调显示，两党的大多数选民都认为爱泼斯坦档案表明，有权势的人很少会为自己的行为承担责任，但目前还不清楚这个问题在中期选举中会如何发展。

许多攻击性广告都包含对对手的误导性甚至虚假声明，包括批评对手没有投票支持公开爱泼斯坦档案，有时还会牵强附会地将对手与爱泼斯坦的前同伙或所谓的“爱泼斯坦阶层”联系起来。

大部分针对爱泼斯坦的广告支出都流向了几个关键州的参议院选举，这反映出这些州的宣传力度之大。佐治亚州、德克萨斯州和俄亥俄州的选举在爱泼斯坦相关广告支出方面位居前三，其中大部分资金来自资金雄厚的民主党人，他们将这一争议作为竞选的重点。

据广告影响力网站（Ad Impact）的数据显示，在佐治亚州，与爱泼斯坦相关的广告支出已超过1000万美元，其中超过四分之三的资金直接来自民主党参议员乔恩·奥索夫的竞选活动。奥索夫多次攻击他的对手、共和党众议员迈克·柯林斯，将柯林斯描绘成特朗普的忠实拥护者，并指责他投票反对公开爱泼斯坦的档案。

Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

“迈克·柯林斯投票掩盖了爱泼斯坦的案卷。即便在他明知有14岁女孩遭到强奸之后，他仍然如此，”一位前美国法警在奥索夫的一则脸书广告中写道。“他还试图告诉我们这是一场骗局。”

但那则广告具有误导性。

科林斯与除九名共和党众议员外的所有共和党众议员一起，投票反对在2025年7月进行程序性投票以公布这些文件。但去年11月，在特朗普改变立场并鼓励共和党人投票支持后，科林斯最终投票赞成公布这些文件。科林斯本人并未直接使用“骗局”一词，但他的团队指出，特朗普的“真相社交”（Truth Social）账号曾发布帖子，称其为“杰弗里·爱泼斯坦骗局”，以此转移人们对政府停摆的注意力。

科林斯反过来指责奥索夫虚伪，因为他接受了科技亿万富翁里德·霍夫曼的竞选捐款。霍夫曼是一位自由派捐款人，曾与爱泼斯坦有过接触，还去过爱泼斯坦的私人岛屿。（霍夫曼并未被指控与爱泼斯坦的罪行有任何不当行为，并已对与爱泼斯坦的交往表示后悔。）科林斯随后要求奥索夫退还这笔钱。

Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Breakthrough T1D

JP Yim/Getty Images for Clinton Global Initiative

在俄亥俄州，针对爱泼斯坦的广告花费已超过600万美元。前民主党参议员谢罗德·布朗（已于2024年失去席位）和共和党参议员乔恩·赫斯特都歪曲事实，攻击对方接受爱泼斯坦“同伙”的竞选捐款。

布朗不断投放广告，试图将赫斯特德与莱斯·韦克斯纳联系起来。韦克斯纳是俄亥俄州的亿万富翁，也是维多利亚的秘密前首席执行官，他曾聘请爱泼斯坦担任其财务经理。爱泼斯坦的档案显示，韦克斯纳一度被联邦调查局视为爱泼斯坦犯罪的潜在同谋。

“赫斯特德从爱泼斯坦最亲密的朋友和同谋之一那里收受了超过11.6万美元，去年就在投票阻止公开爱泼斯坦档案的几周前，他还接受了爱泼斯坦的最高捐款额。乔恩·赫斯特德：他到底在为谁效力？”一则反对赫斯特德的广告旁白这样写道。

韦克斯纳否认了所有与爱泼斯坦有关的不当行为指控，但他曾向赫斯特德基金会捐款长达20年。赫斯特德基金会最近一次接受韦克斯纳的捐款是在2025年夏天。

肯特·西村/路透社

同年 9 月，赫斯特在一次程序性投票中投票反对司法部长公布这些文件，但后来在 2025 年 11 月，在特朗普面临压力敦促共和党人投票赞成后，他与其他参议员一致投票赞成公布这些文件。

哈斯特德的发言人艾米·纳托斯表示，该竞选活动已从可用资金中向反性交易慈善机构捐赠了超过34,000美元。此前韦克斯纳捐赠的资金已用完，无法再动用。

随后，赫斯特德也发布了一则广告进行回应，称布朗是骗子：“在华盛顿特区待了32年，谢罗德·布朗成了一个骗子。真相是：乔恩·赫斯特德投票支持公开爱泼斯坦的文件，而布朗参议员却从爱泼斯坦的同伙那里收受了10万美元，”广告旁白说道。

赫斯特德竞选团队向 CNN 提供了一份据称与爱泼斯坦有联系的布朗大学捐款人名单，其中包括霍夫曼和前哈佛大学校长拉里·萨默斯。

但这份名单中也包括一些与爱泼斯坦关系疏远或关系早于爱泼斯坦在 2000 年代中期被捕的捐赠者，例如亿万富翁慈善家乔治·索罗斯、对冲基金亿万富翁大卫·E·肖和好莱坞经纪人凯西·沃瑟曼。

在德克萨斯州，民主党人詹姆斯·塔拉里科的竞选团队至少花费了 490 万美元用于广告宣传，内容涉及共和党总检察长肯·帕克斯顿的办公室与一名涉嫌性侵儿童的罪犯达成的认罪协议，该罪犯只需在监狱服刑一天。

广告旁白称这笔交易是“爱泼斯坦式的恩惠交易，对象是关系密切的恋童癖者”，然后说道：“肯·帕克斯顿的腐败行为危及我们的孩子。华盛顿不需要更多的恋童癖保护者。”

近二十年前，爱泼斯坦与联邦检察官达成了一项史无前例的秘密协议，使他免于联邦性交易指控，仅因州级卖淫指控（其中一项涉及未成年人）在县监狱服刑13个月。据幸存者称，即使在被软禁期间，爱泼斯坦也继续虐待年轻女孩和妇女。

今年早些时候，帕克斯顿办公室达成的认罪协议在全州引发了强烈抗议，甚至遭到了法官的斥责。该案最初因审判无效而告终，检方不得不在重新审理此案和与被告达成认罪协议之间做出选择。

凯莉·库珀/路透社

出庭作证往往会给受害者，特别是未成年人，造成二次创伤，因此受害者及其家人拒绝再次出庭。这促使检方达成认罪协议，受害者家属也同意了该协议。

帕克斯顿在九月下旬的一次竞选活动中为认罪协议辩护。他说：“确保这个孩子得到保护比获得我们真正想要的判决更重要。所以，如果以其他方式描述这件事，那就太不诚实了，因为这才是事情的真相。”

受害者家属公开表示，他们“厌倦了在这次选举中被利用”。

最近，爱泼斯坦的竞选广告也充斥了爱荷华州、缅因州、阿拉斯加州和堪萨斯州等关键参议院竞选的电视和广播。

在科罗拉多州，弗吉尼亚·朱弗雷（Virginia Giuffre）的家人出现在民主党人杰西卡·基林（Jessica Killin）针对共和党众议员杰夫·克兰克（Jeff Crank）的攻击性广告中。弗吉尼亚·朱弗雷是爱泼斯坦虐待案中最受瞩目的幸存者，于 2025 年自杀身亡。克兰克是该州第五国会选区的代表。

吉弗雷的兄弟和嫂子说，克兰克拒绝与他们这些选民见面，并且投票掩盖了爱泼斯坦的文件。

“弗吉尼亚州本应得到更好的对待，”吉弗雷的哥哥斯凯·罗伯茨对着镜头说道。“杰夫·克兰克为了保护唐纳德·特朗普而掩盖了爱泼斯坦的罪行。”

Heather Diehl/Getty Images

克兰克没有签署要求公开爱泼斯坦档案的两党请愿书，并在众议院投票阻止审议该请愿书。但在特朗普敦促他投票后，他最终在去年11月投票赞成公开这些档案。

Crank 的一位发言人告诉 CNN，共和党控制的国会公布了这些文件，并称该广告的说法“故意含糊不清”，而且没有事实依据。

有些广告严重歪曲候选人与爱泼斯坦的关系，并指控所有在文件中被提及的人。被列入爱泼斯坦文件本身并不必然意味着有不当行为。

在内布拉斯加州，共和党参议员皮特·里基茨在多则广告中将独立候选人丹·奥斯本描绘成一个贪婪的政客，利用竞选资金中饱私囊。其中一则广告称奥斯本“接受了爱泼斯坦家族成员的资助”，并批评他与一名“涉嫌贩卖爱泼斯坦的人”一起筹款。

那则广告提到了民主党人士达娜·查辛的名字，她的名字在文件中出现过一次，是在一封2024年的电子邮件中。邮件中，一位代表一名女性的律师称，她曾乘坐查辛的“小型螺旋桨飞机”前往爱泼斯坦位于纽约的住所。该女性声称，她后来遭到爱泼斯坦的一位亿万富翁投资人同伙的性侵。

查辛否认了这些指控，他在 2 月份告诉 Politico，“2024 年 3 月的电子邮件中没有任何与我有关的内容”是真的，而且他从未见过爱泼斯坦、麦克斯韦或那些被提及的同伙。

CNN联系了查辛，但没有收到回复。

奥斯本竞选团队取消了二月份与查辛共同举办的筹款活动，并表示已将查辛捐赠的款项转给了反性交易非营利组织。保守派媒体《每日电讯报》随后报道称，尽管奥斯本竞选团队已取消了该活动，但当月该活动仍在ActBlue平台上接受捐款。

奥斯本竞选团队的一位发言人称，将奥斯本与爱泼斯坦联系起来是“荒谬可笑的”。

里基茨竞选团队对此回应称，他们质疑奥斯本何时取消了筹款活动，以及他们是否捐出了该活动的所有资金。

10月初，奥斯本的竞选团队发布了一则广告，展示了爱泼斯坦、里基茨的捐款人和里基茨本人之间仅隔着两层关系。“如果你想要一位接受爱泼斯坦圈子捐款的参议员，皮特·里基茨就是你的不二人选，”广告旁白说道。

奥斯汀·约翰逊/法新社/盖蒂图片社

Win McNamee/Getty Images

在新罕布什尔州，民主党众议员克里斯·帕帕斯将矛头指向了共和党人约翰·E·苏努努，这位前参议员正在再次竞选，因为“他的名字出现在爱泼斯坦的文件中，而且他否认曾参加过杰弗里·爱泼斯坦在卡塔尔多哈举办的精英活动，而爱泼斯坦正是利用这个活动来拓展人脉，”帕帕斯竞选团队的一则 Facebook 广告写道。

苏努努的竞选团队后来承认，他确实在2001年去过多哈，并在2010年出席了在那里举行的世界经济论坛。爱泼斯坦档案中发现的电子邮件也提到了此事。在2010年的一封电子邮件中，爱泼斯坦提到“约翰·苏努努”的名字，并称他“有很多好故事”，但目前尚不清楚爱泼斯坦指的是哪位约翰·苏努努——是那位前参议员还是那位前州长。

竞选发言人迈克·施林普夫在一份声明中表示：“正如几个月前报道的那样，约翰和他的父亲从未见过鲍里斯·尼科利奇（原文如此）或杰弗里·爱泼斯坦，也从未以任何方式与他们联系过。约翰认为爱泼斯坦是一个卑鄙的人。”

在新墨西哥州，一个名为“新墨西哥问责组织”（Accountable New Mexico）的团体发布了一则广告，矛头直指民主党州长候选人黛布·哈兰德（Deb Haaland），声称她接受了爱泼斯坦的私人飞机，前往华盛顿特区参加筹款活动。广告还称她从爱泼斯坦的生意中收受了数万美元，而且爱泼斯坦的竞选团队甚至还追讨了更多捐款。

据当地媒体报道，这些说法具有误导性。2014年，哈兰德作为民主党副州长候选人参选时，曾乘飞机前往华盛顿特区参加筹款活动，但并非乘坐爱泼斯坦的私人飞机。根据档案中的一封电子邮件显示，此次飞行是应哈兰德的竞选搭档、时任新墨西哥州总检察长加里·金的要求而安排的。目前尚不清楚哈兰德当时是否知情。

这则广告歪曲了一封发给爱泼斯坦的感谢邮件的内容，使其看起来像是哈兰德发的。实际上，那封邮件是金发的。

该广告还声称哈兰德接受了爱泼斯坦旗下公司数千美元的竞选捐款。然而，在新墨西哥州，州长和副州长候选人——尽管后来会以同一竞选搭档参选——在普选中也各自运作独立的竞选委员会。金接受了爱泼斯坦的竞选捐款。

哈兰德发布了一则自己的广告，反驳了这则攻击性广告：“事实核查人员表示，萨姆·布雷格曼对黛布·哈兰德的攻击都是谎言。黛布·哈兰德从未乘坐过杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的飞机，从未向他索要过钱财，并支持对他的罪行进行全面调查。”旁白说道。

然而，并非所有关于爱泼斯坦的广告都是攻击性广告。一些候选人将自己定位为反对所谓的“爱泼斯坦阶层”，这个词最初由加州民主党众议员罗·卡纳提出，此后已成为民主党人在今年秋季寻求重夺政权时简洁明了的反建制口号。

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/法新社/盖蒂图片社

面临连任挑战的俄亥俄州民主党众议员玛西·卡普图尔发布了一则广告，强调她投票支持公开爱泼斯坦档案：“我多次投票支持公开爱泼斯坦档案中的每一个字和每一张照片，在他们入狱之前，我绝不会罢休，”卡普图尔在广告中说道。“我不是为‘爱泼斯坦阶层’——那些出卖我们的自私之徒——服务的。我为你们服务。”

众议院民主党领袖杰米·拉斯金(Jamie Raskin)在3月份通过Facebook广告筹款，抨击“爱泼斯坦阶层和海湖庄园精英”。同样，众议院监督委员会资深成员罗伯特·加西亚(Robert Garcia)今年也在Facebook上投放广告，利用其在该委员会的工作进行筹款。

即使是胜算渺茫的众议院选举，共和党领导层候选人也在利用爱泼斯坦案进行竞选活动。

康拉德·凯布尔（Conrad Cable）曾是英语专业学生，后来成为蔬菜种植户，目前正在竞选路易斯安那州第四国会选区的众议员席位。他在脸书上投放了一系列广告，指责众议院议长迈克·约翰逊（Mike Johnson）策划掩盖这些文件。同样在路易斯安那州第一国会选区竞选的民主党候选人劳伦·朱厄特（Lauren Jewett）也采取了类似的行动。她的对手是现任众议员史蒂夫·斯卡利斯（Steve Scalise），后者在众议院共和党领导层中位列第二。

自诩为共和党局外人的人士也接受了这种宣传策略。今年春天在德克萨斯州第32选区国会初选中落败的保罗·邦达尔发布了一则广告，表达了他对“政客们阻挠爱泼斯坦案卷宗的调查，不保护儿童”的厌恶之情。

对于在推动就公开爱泼斯坦档案进行投票中发挥关键作用的肯塔基州众议员托马斯·马西来说，这个问题变得至关重要。他的竞选团队在竞选广告中大力宣传他的努力。“我正在要求并带头确保我们被承诺会公开的爱泼斯坦档案能够真正完整地公开，”马西在一则广告中说道。

但这并不足以阻止特朗普及其盟友决心将这位特立独行的保守派人士赶下台，马西在初选中败给了挑战者埃德·加尔雷恩，此前他遭到了超过 1500 万美元的外部资金攻击。

CNN的凯西·托兰对本文亦有贡献。