Graham Platner’s first general-election ad in Maine never mentions Sen. Susan Collins or the Republican Party. It is about Jeffrey Epstein. “Some of the most powerful Democrats and Republicans in the country were on Epstein island,” Platner says in the spot, a reference to the late financier’s former home in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“It seems the only thing the party establishments can agree on is a love of Jeffrey Epstein, and a hatred of me,” he says. “I’m Graham Platner, and I approve this message because together, we will take back our government from the Epstein class.”
Platner won the Democratic Senate nomination with an economic-populist campaign. His controversial online statements and a since-removed tattoo of a Nazi symbol have also drawn national attention, The 19th reported.
Who is using the phrase
Platner is not alone. In midterm races from Texas to Maine, Democrats and at least one Republican are running against Epstein and the “Epstein class.” Rep. Ro Khanna of California first used the term last year for rich men who moved in Epstein’s circle and helped rebuild his reputation after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution of a minor.
“I did coin the phrase ‘Epstein class’ because they’re a group of rich and powerful people who are not playing by the rules, and it offends the sense that we have one tier of justice,” Khanna told The 19th.
Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, who is seeking reelection, has also attacked the “Epstein class” in his messaging. In Texas, Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico has gone after Ken Paxton, the Trump-endorsed attorney general, over a plea deal critics called overly lenient and “Epstein-style” for a defendant charged with sexually abusing a child. In Ohio, Republican Sen. Jon Husted and Democrat Sherrod Brown have each run ads singling out the other’s donations from people in Epstein’s orbit.
Noah Taylor, an Army veteran running for the Senate in Kansas, and Dan Osborn, an independent challenging Sen. Pete Ricketts in Nebraska, have used the same framing. Osborn called Ricketts and Sen. Ted Cruz “birds of a feather who are content to carry out the agenda of the billionaire Epstein class.”
The files and the polling
Last year, Epstein’s survivors helped drive a bipartisan push in Congress, led by Khanna and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, to force the Justice Department to release more than 3.5 million files from its Epstein investigation. Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. In May, a Trump-backed primary challenger ousted Massie.
Only Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a prison sentence for sex trafficking, has been prosecuted in the United States in connection with his crimes. Republicans point to Epstein’s ties to Bill Clinton and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman, who has said he regrets the association, to accuse Democrats of hypocrisy.
Two Democratic-aligned surveys this year, from Navigator Research and Data for Progress, found majorities of voters, Republicans included, saying there has been too little accountability. In the Navigator poll, 72 percent of Americans said there should be more arrests and prosecutions.
“It really cuts across every political divide in a way that we almost never see on other issues,” said Melissa Toufanian, Navigator’s managing director. Ryan O’Donnell of Data for Progress said voters tie the issue to wealthy elites and corruption. “I think it directly fits in with voters’ top concern of cost of living right now,” he said.
