The fallout over the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his crimes has emerged as a major issue in the midterm elections. Candidates have hammered their opponents over whether they pushed to release the investigative files related to Mr. Epstein, and over their connections to donors and supporters associated with him. Over and over, they have issued a common refrain: They are running against the “Epstein class.”

The New York Times identified at least 35 congressional races with TV or digital ads that mentioned “Epstein” between January 2026 and the end of August, according to an analysis of data from Ad Impact, a media tracking firm. The stream of ads remained steady through the summer. In trying to tie their opponents to the disgraced financier, some ads have omitted context or promoted weak links to Mr. Epstein. Here’s a look. Votes on releasing the Epstein files Until last November, Republicans in Congress were torn between voters pressing for the release of the Epstein files, and President Trump’s monthslong resistance to doing so. More than a dozen Democratic candidates and their allies in House and Senate races highlighted votes by Republican rivals opposing efforts in the spring and summer of 2025 to release the Epstein files. It is true that all but nine House Republicans voted in July 2025 against a procedural move to release the files (those nine members did not vote at all), and all but two Senate Republicans voted in September 2025 against an amendment to release the files. Republican members of the Rules Committee, which controls the pathway to bringing a bill to the House floor for a vote, stymied efforts to force the issue several times. But the attack ads all omit that Republicans reversed their positions once Mr. Trump bowed to pressure last November. A measure to release the files passed by unanimous consent in the Senate and nearly unanimously in the House. In Georgia, an ad from the campaign of Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, noted that his Republican opponent, Representative Mike Collins, “voted against releasing the Epstein files,” referring to that vote in July. Another campaign video added that Mr. Collins “even admitted Trump was in the files.”That was a misleading reference to comments Mr. Collins made at a Republican Party event last August. Asked whether he believed Mr. Trump was in the Epstein files, Mr. Collins responded, “I’m sure he’s in there because he’s the one who was telling the F.B.I. about it.” (Mr. Collins’s comment was not accurate, either. The files contain tens of thousands of references to Mr. Trump, and they include mentions in news articles and in salacious and unverified tips.)Meyer Siegfried, a spokesman for the Collins campaign, said Mr. Ossoff was “a shameless hypocrite” given that his campaign had received contributions from Reid Hoffman, the billionaire co-founder of Linked In who also corresponded with Mr. Epstein and visited his island at least once. In Florida, an ad from Gay Valimont, a Democratic candidate for a House seat, accuses Representative Jimmy Patronis, a Republican, of calling “investigating Jeffrey Epstein a waste of his time.”That is not quite what Mr. Patronis said. Appearing on local radio in July 2025, he asserted that he had “no problem getting everything all released.” But he expressed frustration that the issue had “created an impasse for us getting things done.”Donations from those with Epstein ties Mr. Epstein’s wide-ranging connections with powerful people have led to recriminations in finance, politics, academia and entertainment. Political donations from those people are now fodder for attack ads. In the Senate race in Ohio, both candidates traded attacks highlighting campaign contributions from donors with ties to Mr. Epstein. Sherrod Brown, a former Democratic senator who is mounting a comeback campaign, has run at least eight different ads highlighting donations that Senator Jon Husted, a Republican, received from Leslie Wexner, a retail ...