MARIETTA, Ohio — Ohioans in Marietta this week became the latest residents to publicly call out U.S. Sen. Jon Husted over the $116,892 he accepted from billionaire Les Wexner and his 2025 vote on an amendment to release federal records related to Jeffrey Epstein.
The Marietta gathering follows months of similar events in Columbus, Toledo, Youngstown, Westlake, Steubenville, Lima and Norwalk. Most of the people stepping to the microphone have been local residents — teachers, city and school-board officials and, in at least one case, a survivor of sexual abuse — who say they want answers about Husted’s judgment.
Campaign finance records from the Federal Election Commission and the Ohio Secretary of State, reviewed by TiffinOhio.net, show Husted accepted $116,892 from Wexner across 21 contributions between 2001 and 2025. The most recent was a $3,500 maximum donation to his Senate campaign on July 3, 2025. According to those records, Husted is the only senator up for re-election in 2026 who took money from Wexner during the current election cycle.
About two months after that July contribution, on Sept. 10, 2025, Husted voted against an amendment offered by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer that would have directed the attorney general to publicly release documents related to Epstein. The amendment, attached to the annual defense authorization bill, failed on a largely party-line vote of 51–49.
Husted’s campaign rejects the idea that he opposed releasing the files. A spokesperson called that framing a “gross mischaracterization,” saying Husted objected to attaching the Epstein language to a defense spending bill, which he called “utterly inappropriate.” When the Senate later took up standalone legislation, in November 2025, it approved releasing the records by unanimous consent, and Husted did not object; the day before, he told Columbus television station WBNS that the files should be made public while protecting victims and any future prosecution.
On the donations, Husted’s campaign says it has given the money away. Communications director Tyson Shepard said Husted “directed the campaign to donate Wexner’s money to charity,” and the campaign has reported donating $34,300 in combined contributions from Wexner and his wife, Abigail, to Freedom a la Cart, a Columbus nonprofit that supports survivors of human trafficking. The campaign has also pointed to donations former Sen. Sherrod Brown received from people described as Epstein associates. TiffinOhio.net’s earlier coverage of the charitable-donation pledge has more detail.
Wexner, the New Albany billionaire who founded Victoria’s Secret parent company L Brands, has never been charged with a crime in connection with Epstein. His name appeared in an Aug. 15, 2019 internal FBI document that referenced him as a co-conspirator; the Department of Justice unredacted that reference on Feb. 10, 2026, after pressure from Reps. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, and Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican. The same document noted “limited evidence” of Wexner’s involvement. A legal representative for Wexner has said federal prosecutors told his counsel in 2019 that he was “neither a co-conspirator nor a target” and that he cooperated with investigators. Wexner later confirmed the donations under oath during a February congressional deposition, acknowledging it was plausible he had given Husted about $117,000 over the years.
At the earlier stops, the criticism has come mostly from people who live in those communities. In Lima in June, Fourth Ward city councilor Jeannine Jordan said Husted’s eventual vote to release the files did not show “courage of conviction,” because his September vote had aligned with most Senate Republicans. Alice Donahue, a Lima school board member, spoke as a survivor of sexual abuse and said Wexner’s name appears thousands of times in the files released so far. In Steubenville, resident and educator Karen Lloyd said “a profound shadow hangs over the office of Sen. Jon Husted.” At several events, demonstrators carried signs criticizing Husted, including some reading “Pedophile protector.”
Husted has repeatedly declined to answer reporters’ questions about the money and his vote. During a February campaign stop in Norwalk, the Norwalk Reflector reported that Husted turned his head and did not respond when asked directly about the Wexner contributions and the Epstein files.
Democrats and the campaign of Brown, Husted’s opponent, contend Husted took roughly 10 times as much money from Wexner as any other sitting senator. Brown’s campaign has made the Wexner donations a central line of attack, while Husted’s campaign has run its own ads tying Brown to Epstein-associated donors. Reviews by FactCheck.org have noted that people who gave to Brown, unlike Wexner, have not been charged with crimes or labeled co-conspirators by the FBI, and that not all of the $116,892 went to Husted alone — a portion flowed to a joint gubernatorial committee and transition fund Husted shared with Gov. Mike DeWine.
Husted was appointed to the Senate in January 2025 by DeWine to fill the seat vacated by Vice President JD Vance. He faces Brown in a November 2026 special election that is among the most closely watched Senate contests in the country. The Wexner donations have surfaced alongside other scrutiny of Husted, including his documented role in the House Bill 6 utility-bailout scandal.
