Epstein is back: Why candidates are spending millions to 'weaponize' a dead man’s name in the 2026 midterms.

Jeffrey Epstein has been dead for years, but his name is back at the centre of America's political battle. With candidates increasingly accusing rivals of protecting child predators, the controversy over his files is shaping a fierce new wave of US midterm attack ads.

With just two weeks left for the US midterms 2026, the campaigning has taken a sharp turn, with candidates across the country accusing rivals of going easy on child predators. As per an NBC News report, more than 500 House, Senate and gubernatorial ads this cycle have focused on disgraced financier, convicted sex trafficker, paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and have used the phrases "child predator," "predator" or "paedophile," according to AdImpact, which tracks campaign advertising. That is roughly two per cent of all tracked ads. As per the reports, candidates across the board have ramped up the attacks sharply this month in nearly every competitive state.

Democrats and allied groups back nearly three in four of these spots. Many tie directly to the release, or the refusal to release, of files connected to Jeffrey Epstein. Democrats have hit Republicans for voting against making more information public or for accepting donations from people whose names appeared in unredacted documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Note: A name in those files did not mean the person had committed a crime.

Texas leads the spending

No state has put more money behind these ads than Texas, where upward of $38 million has been spent in the fiercely contested Senate race and more than $8 million in two House races.

Democrat James Talarico, a state lawmaker, has hammered Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton over a plea deal his office offered a Waco man charged with sexually abusing a boy. In one campaign spot, Talarico walks through a warehouse as the words "NEVER GIVEN AN EPSTEIN-STYLE DEAL" flash behind him. "I've never given a sweetheart deal to a pedophile," he says in the ad.

The case centres on former Waco attorney Adam Hoffman, who faced life without parole on felony charges of continuous sexual abuse of a young child. His trial ended in a mistrial in June 2025, and Paxton's office offered a plea deal and one day in jail time. Prosecutors wrote to a state lawmaker that the deal was "a difficult decision" because the boy did not wish to testify again. Hoffman ultimately served 29 days.

"There is an infinite number of ways you can say and explain with evidence that this guy is a corrupt loser," a Democratic strategist close to the campaign said of Paxton. "But this one is so clear, and it gets people's attention, and it's just right in your face on tape, and it just happened."

Why now

The wave comes at a cultural moment of heightened attention on alleged paedophiles. The recent months saw huge discourse on the so-called Epstein files, with widespread anger over the botched release of the documents surrounding the case by Trump's administration. The heavily redacted files left much to be desired and were slammed for outing information, including compromising pictures of the victims.

An upcoming movie, "Primetime," starring Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen, host of the defunct NBC show "To Catch a Predator," also contributed to the attention. It follows the 2025 documentary "Predators," which examined the legacy of that programme.

One national GOP strategist told NBC that the tactic is less about ideology and more about dragging down an opponent's favourability to keep voters away from the polls. But the strategist also pointed to a wider societal focus, suggesting the ads may be "meeting an American cultural moment", adding, "In a way that's kind of grim."

Kansas, Ohio and Iowa

Texas is one of at least six states where more than $10 million has been spent on such ads. Kansas, Ohio and Iowa have seen the most Epstein and paedophilia-related spots in their Senate races.

In Kansas, both candidates accuse the other of being soft on child predators. Republicans are targeting Democrat Adam Hamilton, a pastor, over a child sex abuse scandal at his church camps, citing two instances of a volunteer attempting to assault campers. Hamilton denies any cover-up but says he would respond differently now. The Kansas City Star, which reviewed court records, reported that church officials found an internal investigation inconclusive, did not report the first allegation to police, and allowed the volunteer, Scott Preston Moore, to return to camp the next year. The church later reported Moore to police after a second allegation and barred him from working with children.

Hamilton has fought back on air, accusing his opponent, Sen. Roger Marshall, of "lying" and saying his church "reported incidents involving a volunteer to law enforcement and then cut ties with him." His ad also notes that Hamilton "later helped get this predator convicted," pointing to Moore's 2013 conviction.

Hamilton is also hitting Marshall for voting against the release of the Epstein files. Last September, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer offered an amendment to a defence bill ordering the files' release, and nearly every Republican voted to table it. Marshall called the vote a "political stunt."

The Senate later passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act by unanimous consent.

Marshall adviser Alex Degrasse said the senator "has always supported the release," including the unanimous consent vote last November that Trump signed. That second vote came after Trump permitted Republicans to support release after months of resistance. Trump had a years-long friendship with Epstein but denies wrongdoing.

The Ramaswamy-Acton ad controversy

Also adding fuel to fire is an ad by Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for governor, in Ohio. The controversial ad features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, casting her daughter as a liar.

The ad centres on paedophilia and dates back nearly 50 years, when Acton, then 12, accused her stepfather of sexual assault. Court records show the man was indicted on a rape charge. Acton said in 2019 she last saw her mother at a hearing during the 1978 case. Her brother, Phillip Stearns, released a statement pointing to the "sexual abuse Amy endured at 12 years old from our birth mother's husband," saying the siblings were removed from custody after the arrest.

Several Republicans, including in Ohio, have criticised the ad or called for it to be pulled. Trump on Thursday encouraged Ramaswamy to lean into it, while Vice President JD Vance said Republicans needed to "stop whining" about it.

In North Carolina, Cooper's campaign has gone after his opponent, former RNC chairman Michael Whatley, for appointing Harvey West, a convicted sex offender and long-time party fundraiser, to a state party committee. West claims he did not commit the crimes and pleaded guilty to avoid a stiffer sentence, The Associated Press reported. A Whatley spokesperson, DJ Griffin, instead said Cooper "failed at his most basic job to protect our kids and keep North Carolinians safe."

The ads come as voters have recoiled at the Epstein files and rank corruption as a top issue. A June Quinnipiac survey found 38 per cent of voters said the Epstein investigation was important to their vote.