GOP senator hit with 'doozy of an ad' over Epstein donations

A GOP senator trying to keep his seat in a contentious battleground state was hit with a damning attack ad calling out his connections to sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

"Of all 535 members of Congress, who's taken the most money from associates of Jeffrey Epstein?" the attack ad opened. "Jon Husted, that's who."

The opponent of Sen. Husted (R-OH), Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown, approved the message, which was paid for by Friends of Sherrod Brown. Axios congressional reporter Andrew Solender described it as "a doozy of an ad."

"Husted's taken over $116,000 from one of Epstein's closest friends and co-conspirators," the ad claimed, while showing pictures of Epstein cut over clips of Husted speaking. "And last year took a maximum donation from him just weeks before voting to block the release of the Epstein files."

The final shot put a picture of Husted up next to Epstein's mugshot and asked, "Jon Husted, who's he really working for?"

The donor in question is Les Wexner, the former Victoria's Secret CEO, who was identified in February 2026, in DOJ-released FBI documents, as a co-conspirator of Epstein. Campaign finance records confirm Husted accepted about $117,000 from Wexner across 21 contributions between 2001 and 2025, including a $3,500 donation in July 2025, just weeks before Husted voted to block the release of the Epstein files.

Snopes found that roughly $37,000 of that total went to joint Husted-DeWine committees rather than directly to Husted alone. Wexner has never been charged with any crime connected to Epstein, and said in a congressional deposition that he never lobbied Husted to block the files' release.

Husted was appointed to his Senate seat by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in January 2025 to fill the vacancy left when JD Vance became vice president. Brown, who lost his Senate reelection bid to Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024, is now attempting a comeback in what is shaping up to be one of the most expensive Senate races of the cycle.