{"id":220,"date":"2026-06-09T11:39:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T11:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220"},"modified":"2026-06-09T11:39:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T11:39:25","slug":"ohio-senate-candidates-spar-over-donations-tied-loosely-or-not-to-epstein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220","title":{"rendered":"Ohio Senate candidates spar over donations tied, loosely or not, to Epstein"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

by Lori Robertson<\/strong><\/p>\n

ANALYSIS \u2014Ohio voters are witnessing a battle of campaign television ads as each Senate candidate tries to tie the other to Jeffrey Epstein \u2014 by way of donations from those with some link to the late convicted sex offender.<\/p>\n

Read more At the Races: Maine\u2019s moment<\/a><\/p>\n

Democrat Sherrod Brown\u2019s campaign charges that Republican Sen. Jon Husted \u201ctook more money from Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s co-conspirators than anyone else in Washington, and then voted to keep the Epstein files secret.\u201d The donations total $116,892 over more than 20 years. Husted\u2019s TV spot, meanwhile, calls Brown \u201ca liar,\u201d saying that Husted \u201cvoted to release the Epstein files\u201d and that Brown took $100,000 \u201cfrom Epstein associates.\u201d Those contributions date back to 2005.<\/p>\n

Whether the campaign donations are problematic is a matter of opinion that we leave to voters to decide. We\u2019ll lay out who gave the money.<\/p>\n

In Husted\u2019s case, the contributions all came from Les Wexner, the founder and former CEO of the retail company\u00a0L Brands, which included The Limited and Victoria\u2019s Secret and is based in Ohio. Wexner, who knew Epstein and hired him to be his financial manager for many years, was listed in a\u00a0\u00a0as a \u201cco-conspirator,\u201d hence the description in the Brown ad. But he has never been charged with a crime. In February, after his inclusion in the document became public, Wexner\u00a0said\u00a0he \u201cnever witnessed nor had any knowledge of Epstein\u2019s criminal activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, Husted donated about $34,000 of the more recent Wexner donations to a charity, his campaign said, noting this was \u201call the funds that were available.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Brown\u2019s case, the Husted campaign mined the Epstein files for mentions of Brown donors. A few have a well-known connection to Epstein, such as Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary who\u00a0announced\u00a0in February that he would resign from Harvard University after some of his\u00a0\u00a0with Epstein was released. Summers also hasn\u2019t been accused or charged with any crime related to his friendship with Epstein. Some of the others who donated to Brown have a tangential connection to Epstein, or it\u2019s unclear if they knew him, such as being mentioned by Epstein in an email.<\/p>\n

As for Husted\u2019s votes on the Epstein files, neither campaign tells the whole story. Husted voted against a Democratic amendment to release them \u2014 in a largely party-line vote \u2014 and, two months later, supported releasing them \u2014 in a unanimous consent vote on stand-alone legislation.<\/p>\n

Brown\u00a0was a longtime Ohio senator, from 2007 to 2025. Husted\u00a0was appointed\u00a0in January 2025 by Gov. Mike DeWine to fill the Senate seat vacated by Vice President JD Vance. The race\u00a0is rated\u00a0a toss-up by the Cook Political Report.<\/p>\n

Both of the TV ads we examine here started airing in late May, according to AdImpact.<\/p>\n

Husted\u2019s votes<\/h2>\n

We\u2019ll start with the issue that\u2019s easier to explain: whether Husted \u201cvoted to keep the Epstein files secret\u201d or \u201cvoted to release the Epstein files,\u201d as the TV ads from each campaign say. The senator essentially did both. The campaigns, though, point only to the vote that supports their position.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 10, Husted \u2014 and all but two Republican senators \u2014\u00a0voted\u00a0to block a Democratic amendment to a defense budget and policy bill. The\u00a0amendment, proposed by Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, called for the attorney general to release all unclassified documents related to Epstein, including Department of Justice investigations of him and his associates, and information related to Epstein\u2019s suicide.<\/p>\n

In July 2019, federal authorities\u00a0charged\u00a0Epstein, a wealthy financier, with sex trafficking of minors, alleging that he \u201csexually exploited and abused dozens of underage girls by enticing them to engage in sex acts with him in exchange for money\u201d between 2002 and 2005. A month after his arrest, Epstein\u00a0. His death\u00a0was ruled\u00a0a suicide by the DOJ and the New York City medical examiner.<\/p>\n

The Brown campaign has linked Husted\u2019s September vote to a\u00a0$3,500 contribution\u00a0from Wexner two months earlier. \u201cJust last year Husted took a maximum donation from Epstein\u2019s co-conspirator and weeks later voted to block the release of the Epstein files. The record is clear,\u201d Patrick Eisenhauer, Brown\u2019s campaign manager, said in an email to us. (That is the\u00a0maximum amount\u00a0an individual can give to a candidate committee per election.)<\/p>\n

At the time of the September vote, President Donald Trump\u00a0was opposed\u00a0to the DOJ releasing its files on Epstein. The two Republicans who voted in favor of releasing the files were Sens. Rand Paul and Josh Hawley.<\/p>\n

Asked in a Feb. 18 deposition before a congressional committee whether he lobbied Husted or anyone else to block the release of the Epstein files, Wexner\u00a0said, \u201cAbsolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Husted campaign noted that the September vote wasn\u2019t on the stand-alone Epstein Files Transparency Act and said that it was \u201cinappropriate\u201d for Schumer to try to add the act as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. \u201cThe NDAA is a bipartisan piece of legislation that covers military pay and benefits, and national security policy. Given that it is completely inappropriate and irresponsible to toy with military benefits and our country\u2019s national defense, the Senate voted to table the amendment,\u201d Amy Natoce, the campaign\u2019s communications director, told us in an email.<\/p>\n

Natoce contended that there was \u201ca single recorded vote on releasing the Epstein files\u201d \u2014 the\u00a0Nov. 19 vote\u00a0on the bill on its own. In a May 29 CNN interview, Brown\u00a0argued\u00a0this was \u201cno real vote.\u201d On Nov. 19, the bill passed by unanimous consent, meaning that no senator objected. Husted, therefore, along with the rest of the Senate, supported it.<\/p>\n

The bill was signed into law the same day by Trump, who\u00a0had changed\u00a0his position and backed the legislation. The House had passed it by a\u00a0427-1 vote.<\/p>\n

Donations to Husted<\/h2>\n

The Brown ad says that Husted \u201ctook more money from Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s co-conspirators than anyone else in Washington,\u201d and on screen, it says the contributions were 10 times more than what any other sitting senator got from \u201cco-conspirators.\u201d It doesn\u2019t mention a specific dollar amount. The campaign sent us support for the ad, which details $116,892 in donations from 2001 to 2025 from Wexner.<\/p>\n

That total includes $3,500 to Husted\u2019s Senate campaign, $76,400 in donations for Husted\u2019s state campaigns, and $36,992 that went to DeWine\u2019s gubernatorial campaign when Husted was running on the ticket for lieutenant governor or to the DeWine-Husted transition fund.<\/p>\n

The Brown campaign lists other \u201cco-conspirators\u201d or potential co-conspirators in FBI documents and then provides figures showing Husted\u2019s total donations from Wexner are 10 times or more than what any other sitting senator received. For this article, we\u2019re not delving into what other senators received. We\u2019ll focus on the donations to Husted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Husted campaign hasn\u2019t disputed the amount received from Wexner. And it\u2019s not surprising that the\u00a0Ohio-born\u00a0billionaire would donate money to politicians in his state. Wexner is a well-known figure in the Buckeye State. His name graces\u00a0three buildings\u00a0on the campus of Ohio State University.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s early midterm stops only touch on lawmakers<\/a><\/p>\n

He also has made some sizeable contributions to Republicans. Wexner gave $250,000 in October to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which works to elect Republicans to the Senate,\u00a0according to Federal Election Commission data, and $250,000 in 2024 to a\u00a0super PAC\u00a0supporting Matt Dolan, who ran (and\u00a0lost) in the Republican primary for Senate that year.<\/p>\n

As for the \u201cco-conspirator\u201d label, it\u2019s true that an\u00a0\u00a0listed Wexner among eight Epstein \u201cco-conspirators.\u201d Wexner\u2019s name\u00a0was unredacted\u00a0and made public in early February. The email listed him as a \u201csecondary\u201d co-conspirator and said that \u201c[t]here is limited evidence regarding his involvement.\u201d It also said that the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of New York \u201cis currently in contact with his attorneys and a subpoena has been served.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wexner\u2019s attorney\u00a0has said\u00a0that he cooperated with the Justice Department and was told in 2019 by a federal prosecutor that he wasn\u2019t considered a co-conspirator. He hasn\u2019t been charged with any crime related to his relationship with Epstein, whom he had hired as a financial adviser decades ago.<\/p>\n

About a week after Wexner\u2019s inclusion in the August 2019 FBI document came to light, Husted, along with other Ohio lawmakers,\u00a0said\u00a0he would donate Wexner\u2019s contributions to charity. The campaign told us he had donated $34,300 to Freedom a la Cart, a nonprofit that helps survivors of sex trafficking. \u201cThose are all the funds that were available because the remainder were received in previous campaign cycles and spent during those cycles,\u201d Natoce said.<\/p>\n

In his prepared statement to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Feb. 18, Wexner\u00a0said: \u201cI was na\u00efve, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein. He was a con man. And while I was conned, I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide.\u201d He said he \u201cnever witnessed nor had any knowledge of Epstein\u2019s criminal activity. I was never a participant nor co-conspirator in any of Epstein\u2019s illegal activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wexner met Epstein in \u201cthe mid-to-late 1980s,\u201d he said, and later hired him to manage his personal finances, giving Epstein power of attorney. Wexner claims that Epstein stole \u201cvast sums\u201d of money from his family but later returned a \u201csubstantial amount.\u201d Around late 2007, Wexner said, he ended his association with Epstein, who was\u00a0charged\u00a0in Florida in 2006 with solicitation of prostitution. He pleaded guilty two years later to that charge and to solicitation of prostitution with a minor. \u201cIn light of his eventual guilty plea and deception of our family, we completely severed our relationship with Epstein,\u201d Wexner said in his statement.<\/p>\n

Donations to Brown<\/h2>\n

In pushing back on the Brown campaign\u2019s criticism of the Wexner donations, the Husted campaign has cited contributions to Brown from what it calls \u201cEpstein associates.\u201d The Husted TV ad claims Brown \u201ctook a hundred grand\u201d from these associates, citing on screen a\u00a0March 7 New York Post article\u00a0that puts the figure at \u201cmore than $124,000.\u201d The article says that \u201cBrown and Husted are far from the only politicians who took money from individuals with close ties to Epstein.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few of the people on the list the Husted campaign provided to us do have established, close ties to Epstein. But many don\u2019t, and it\u2019s unclear whether some on the list knew him.<\/p>\n

The campaign cited 14 people who gave contributions to Brown, including Abigail Wexner, Les Wexner\u2019s wife. She\u00a0donated\u00a0$10,200 to Brown\u2019s campaigns from 2011 to 2017, and additional funds to his leadership political action committee from 2017 to 2019. The Husted campaign argues that this counts as also taking money from Les Wexner. \u201cAs a married couple, Abigail and Les Wexner share assets,\u201d Natoce told us.<\/p>\n

In a press release about the ad, Natoce\u00a0said, \u201cBrown is literally using Epstein money to run TV ads about Epstein money!\u201d<\/p>\n

None of the donors the Husted campaign identified has been charged with a crime related to Epstein, nor has any been identified as a co-conspirator. As we said, many have weak links to the late sex offender. For instance, one donor is mentioned in the Epstein files because Epstein asked an assistant for her email address. Another was invited to a dinner party Epstein was having and said he couldn\u2019t attend. Another was among a list of names Epstein emailed to himself titled \u201cbillionaire.\u201d<\/p>\n

The campaign also flagged\u00a0$20,400\u00a0in donations from billionaire philanthropist George Soros, citing a\u00a0\u00a0with a person who said he was a victim of Epstein and claimed Soros was present on a yacht with Epstein and several others and witnessed him being sexually abused. The FBI document said the alleged victim\u2019s conversation with the FBI, which occurred after Epstein\u2019s July 2019 arrest, \u201csuggested some degree of possible mental illness or emotional instability.\u201d The document also said this person wasn\u2019t able to provide supporting evidence or \u201cthe identities of any witnesses to support his claim of victimization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ghislaine Maxwell, who was\u00a0convicted\u00a0in 2021 for helping Epstein to recruit, groom and abuse minors,\u00a0told\u00a0the DOJ that she didn\u2019t think Epstein knew Soros.<\/p>\n

Some on the Husted campaign\u2019s list either had a documented relationship with Epstein or what appear to be stronger links. Summers, the former Treasury secretary who resigned from his position at Harvard this year, had a friendship with Epstein, who\u00a0\u00a0a 60th birthday dinner party for Summers in 2014. The\u00a0released Epstein documents\u00a0show Summers\u00a0\u00a0with Epstein in 2018,\u00a0appeared\u00a0to get romantic advice from Epstein that year and was\u00a0\u00a0with him in 2019. Epstein was arrested that July by federal law enforcement. Summers has called his relationship with Epstein a \u201cmajor error in judgement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Summers gave\u00a0$10,300\u00a0to Brown\u2019s campaigns in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n

Two others that the Husted campaign cited, including in the press release about the TV ad, are Casey Wasserman, an entertainment executive, and attorney Brad Karp, who donated\u00a0$5,400\u00a0and\u00a0$2,000\u00a0to Brown\u2019s campaigns, respectively. Wasserman exchanged emails with Maxwell in 2003 in which he said he missed her and\u00a0, \u201ccan we book that massage now?\u201d He\u00a0told\u00a0the Hollywood Reporter early this year that he regretted the correspondence, which took place \u201clong before her horrific crimes came to light,\u201d adding that he \u201cnever had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karp\u00a0\u00a0to Epstein in 2015 thanking him for an invite to an event at Epstein\u2019s home that Karp called \u201ctruly \u2018once in a lifetime\u2019 in every way.\u201d Epstein responded that \u201cthere are many many nights of unique talents. you will be invited often.\u201d The same year, Epstein\u00a0\u00a0Karp if it was possible to revoke a woman\u2019s tourist visa, and Karp responded that he would work on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A 2003 email in the files\u00a0\u00a0that media executive Barry Diller \u201cwould like to take a hike on the island\u201d and indicated that Epstein had approved it. Diller \u2014 who donated\u00a0$5,400\u00a0to Brown \u2014\u00a0said\u00a0this year that \u201cI am probably the only one who went to the island to see the architecture rather than the inhabitants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Husted\u2019s camp also cited Reid Hoffman, who gave\u00a0$7,000\u00a0to Brown\u2019s campaign in 2025. Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and a well-known\u00a0Democratic donor,\u00a0had meetings\u00a0with Epstein as late as 2018. He\u00a0said\u00a0this year that he knew Epstein \u201cbecause of a fundraising relationship with MIT, which I very much regret.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Husted campaign press release, Husted accuses Brown of \u201chypocrisy,\u201d saying, \u201cWhy won\u2019t he donate the money he received from Epstein associates to charity?\u201d<\/p>\n

When\u00a0asked by CNN\u00a0about donating contributions from Abigail Wexner or Summers, Brown\u00a0said\u00a0that those donations are \u201cnot tied in any way the way the co-conspirator\u201d donations are. He said it was \u201cnot real reporting to make those comparisons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more This week: FISA fight comes to a head<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Lori Robertson ANALYSIS \u2014Ohio voters are witnessing a battle of campaign television ads as each Senate candidate tries to tie the other to Jeffrey Epstein \u2014 by way of donations from those with some link to the late convicted sex offender. Democrat Sherrod Brown\u2019s campaign charges that Republican Sen. Jon Husted \u201ctook more money […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campaigns"],"yoast_head":"\nOhio Senate candidates spar over donations tied, loosely or not, to Epstein - American Industry Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ohio Senate candidates spar over donations tied, loosely or not, to Epstein - American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Lori Robertson ANALYSIS \u2014Ohio voters are witnessing a battle of campaign television ads as each Senate candidate tries to tie the other to Jeffrey Epstein \u2014 by way of donations from those with some link to the late convicted sex offender. 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Jon Husted \u201ctook more money […]","og_url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220","og_site_name":"American Industry Review","article_published_time":"2026-06-09T11:39:25+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"12 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd"},"headline":"Ohio Senate candidates spar over donations tied, loosely or not, to Epstein","datePublished":"2026-06-09T11:39:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220"},"wordCount":2484,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5bfef6bdc6d18ff25b811df240090d71.jpeg","articleSection":["Campaigns"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220","url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220","name":"Ohio Senate candidates spar over donations tied, loosely or not, to Epstein - American Industry Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5bfef6bdc6d18ff25b811df240090d71.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-06-09T11:39:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=220#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5bfef6bdc6d18ff25b811df240090d71.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5bfef6bdc6d18ff25b811df240090d71.jpeg","width":1620,"height":1080,"caption":"UNITED STATES - MARCH 10: Sen. 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