The Epstein reckoning hits the campaign trail, including in Arizona

Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico appeared with Epstein survivors Annie Farmer and Sharlene Rochard at a Reading Room exhibit of DOJ-released Epstein files, attacking Republican opponent Ken Paxton for not meeting with survivors and calling on him to sue the Justice Department over the files' handling. Talarico also aired an ad hitting Paxton over a lenient plea deal his office offered a defendant charged with abusing a minor, though career prosecutors on that case say the outcome reflected the victim's wishes not to testify again.

Paxton's campaign countered by highlighting $11.5 million in donations to a pro-Talarico super PAC from venture capitalist Reid Hoffman, who has acknowledged and apologized for past MIT Media Lab ties to Epstein. Trump, who campaigned for Paxton in Dallas, has his own past Epstein association, along with a 2024 business-fraud conviction and a 2023 sexual abuse liability finding.

In North Carolina, Democrats ran ads against Senate nominee Michael Whatley over his elevation of Harvey West Jr., a convicted sex offender, to Republican Party posts; Whatley's campaign called the attacks a distraction.

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