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Democrats See Political Upside—and Risks—in Epstein Files
At town halls, lawmakers balance attacks on the Trump tax law with jabs centered on the Epstein scandal.
As Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna prepared to travel through South Carolina to rail against President Trump’s agenda, he said a senior House aide pulled him aside to offer advice: “Don’t you go talking that Epstein down South. No one cares.”
But Democrats who came to hear him speak at a town hall outside Charleston, S.C., did care. They interrupted Khanna with applause as he listed the names of House Republicans who backed his effort to force the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein—one of several moments that the California lawmaker said caught him off guard.
“The Epstein stuff really struck a nerve with folks,” Khanna said. Highlighting the case is a “concrete step at splitting the Trump coalition,” he said.
The controversy over the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein matter has roiled Trump’s MAGA base while also creating a fresh line of attack for Democrats, as they try to drive turnout and win back swing voters in next year’s midterms. Democrats are using their August break home with voters to decry Trump’s “big beautiful” tax law, charging that it cuts taxes for billionaires at the expense of healthcare for working people—and now are adding potentially risky Epstein-related attacks to the mix.
“The reality is that it’s all connected,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) when asked if the two messages worked together. He called both the tax plan and the Epstein case examples of Republicans protecting “the lifestyles of the rich and shameless, even if that includes pedophiles.”
Republicans have accused Democrats of playing politics on the issue, given that many largely ignored the Epstein issue previously.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R., Tenn.), who supports releasing the Epstein files, said Monday that Democrats who mention Epstein back home risk getting called out for not acting decisively when they controlled Washington. “The whole question goes, ‘Well, why didn’t you do anything for the last four years?’ That seems to be the overriding sentiment in public,” he said.
Trump allies have long sought the release of Epstein-related materials, but the Justice Department said in July there isn’t a client list of high-profile people who participated in Epstein’s trafficking of young girls, and new files wouldn’t be released. That triggered an uproar among some of Trump’s prominent supporters who believe that powerful elites are being protected by the administration’s silence. Epstein died in 2019 in jail, and his death was ruled a suicide.
The Justice Department then asked judges to unseal grand jury transcripts from the cases involving Epstein and his longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell. The department also dispatched a top DOJ official to interview Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence. On Tuesday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) said his panel issued a subpoena to Trump’s Justice Department seeking records related to Epstein.
Democrats say voters want to hear about Epstein. At a rally Friday morning in the Texas state Capitol, Democratic Rep. Greg Casar asked a fired-up audience: “Are we going to let Donald Trump hide the Epstein files?” The crowd erupted: “No!”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) hit similar notes at a rally Sunday in Arizona. The audience booed when he asked if Trump had lowered prices, ended foreign conflicts or told the truth about releasing the Epstein files.
It can be a delicate balance. That dynamic was on display Thursday night in Prairie du Chien, Wis., where Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan held a town-hall meeting in the neighboring district of a Republican colleague.
In a response to one woman’s question, Pocan cited Epstein as an example of where Trump is breaking promises. But six minutes later, a woman who was critical of Trump’s divisive style asked Pocan for assurances that he won’t use his national media appearances to “just talk about Epstein or talk about the s— that we cannot control.”
“You’ll notice how little I talk about Epstein,” he said in response.
Polls show political opportunities for Democrats on both Epstein and the GOP tax-and-spending law. In a recent Wall Street Journal poll, nearly two-thirds of Republicans surveyed—and 89% of Democrats—said they believed the Justice Department was hiding important information from its Epstein investigation. The polls also showed 52% opposition to the GOP tax law, including 92% of Democrats, 10% of Republicans and 59% of independents.
Republicans plan to defend their new law over the recess, emphasizing that it stopped tax rates from going up and introduces new breaks for tips, overtime and seniors—arguing it will jump-start the economy.
The WSJ survey showed that approval of the Democratic Party was at its lowest level in decades. But on a separate question, voters preferred Democrats over Republicans on a generic congressional ballot by three points. Republicans currently have a 219-212 majority in the House, and a 53-47 edge in the Senate.
Democratic leaders have endorsed discussing Epstein over recess, with advisers putting together a template for email and texts to voters, a ploy to juice their distribution lists by getting the attention of people who ignore messages about other political issues.
“It’s Congress[wo/man] [NAME]. I joined every single House Democrat in demanding the release of the Epstein Files,” the template reads. “The American people deserve the truth. Do you support releasing the Epstein Files? REPLY Y/N.”
Democrats have also worked to keep the controversy in the headlines. On Thursday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) called on the Justice Department to investigate financial records, including what he said are thousands of wire transfers and more than $1 billion of transactions linked to Epstein. Khanna’s measure, backed by Democrats and an eclectic group of Republicans including Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.), could get a vote when the House returns in September.
“For once, Democrats can go on offense on something that’s in the cultural news,” said Andrew Mamo, a strategist who advises Democrats running for Senate.
Write to Katy Stech Ferek at katy.stech@wsj.com
