Attack ads invoking the Epstein files are swirling on both sides of the race for an open Senate seat in Iowa that could prove pivotal in the fight to control Congress.
A super PAC aligned with Senate Democrats started running ads late last month saying that top donors of Representative Ashley Hinson, the Republican nominee, “appear in the Epstein files over 700 times,” reflecting attacks from her Democratic opponent.
Ms. Hinson released her own ad over the weekend, turning the tables. It accuses her opponent, Josh Turek, of having “received tens of millions in support from men in the Epstein files.”
Neither side could cite evidence that either candidate had received money from donors charged with wrongdoing in connection to Jeffrey Epstein, a sex offender and multimillionaire who died in prison in 2019.
Mr. Epstein routinely communicated with prominent politicians, celebrities and figures from the business world, and hundreds of people appear in millions of pages of documents related to the case. But those mentions do not themselves implicate them in his crimes.
To support its assertions, Ms. Hinson’s campaign pointed to more than $40 million spent in the Iowa race by two super PACs aligned with Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, and noted that Mr. Schumer was repeatedly mentioned in the files. There have been no accusations that Mr. Schumer participated in any wrongdoing, and the PAC money does not come directly from him.
Ms. Hinson’s campaign spokesman, Billy Fuerst, also cited a $3,500 donation that Mr. Turek accepted from John Doerr, a billionaire who was on email chains with Mr. Epstein, according to The Daily Mail. Like Mr. Schumer, Mr. Doerr is not accused of wrongdoing, and did not correspond directly with Mr. Epstein in the released files.
A super PAC known as WinSenate has attacked Ms. Hinson for fighting to keep the files “secret.” The group’s ads specifically cite her July 2025 vote to block further consideration of an amendment that could have forced their release. Ms. Hinson also did not sign a discharge petition last year that would have forced another vote.
Ms. Hinson called Mr. Epstein “a disgusting human being and an absolute pedophile” in comments to reporters at the time, and said that her objections were process related. She also said she trusted the Trump administration to “do the right thing” regarding the files.
In November 2025, after Mr. Trump reversed his opposition to a bill demanding the release of the files and urged the House to pass it, Ms. Hinson — like almost every other Republican — changed her vote to release the files. For this reason, the fact-checking organization PolitiFact labeled the WinSenate ads “mostly false.”
To support its claim regarding donations, a spokeswoman for WinSenate pointed to reporting from The Daily Beast that Ms. Hinson received more than $90,000 from individuals named in the files. They include Howard Lutnick, Mr. Trump’s commerce secretary; Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive of Blackwater; and Marc Rowan, the chief executive of Apollo Global Management.
None of them have been charged with criminal wrongdoing.
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