Why Democrats Should Run Against the Epstein Class

Avoiding the false choices that plague Democratic messaging.

For going on nine months, the Trump Administration’s efforts to cover up the Epstein scandal have been the biggest story in American politics.

Interest in this story intensified after the Department of Justice was legally compelled to dump millions of documents online for anyone to peruse.

ICE is marauding through American communities, the President is engaged in an unprecedented campaign of taxpayer-funded political vengeance, America might be on the cusp of an attack on Iran, and there’s a Watergate-sized crime committed every week. Yet every political conversation turns back to the Epstein Files.

This is not a bread-and-circuses moment. The Epstein controversy is vitally important. One could argue that it’s the biggest scandal in American political history. The U.S. Government, from the President on down, is trying desperately to cover up a massive child sex trafficking ring where some of the richest, most powerful people on earth were either involved or turned a blind eye.

During Pam Bondi’s deranged appearance before the Senate last week, it was revealed that the Department of Justice hadn’t even interviewed the survivors. One can only assume that Bondi is too worried about whom they will implicate.

For months, Democrats claimed that everything Trump did—from deploying National Guard troops to invading Venezuela—was an attempt to distract from the Epstein Files. I never really bought that argument; it presumes a level of rationality and strategic thinking that Trump has never once demonstrated in his eight decades on this planet.

However, there’s an inverse of that question worth asking: Are the Epstein Files distracting Democrats from issues like affordability and immigration that might be better arguments?

In other words, should the Epstein Files be part of the midterm message? And if so, how?

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How Voters Feel About the Epstein Files

Before getting into the larger question about what Democrats should do, it’s important to understand how the public feels about the Epstein Files.

• People are Paying Attention: According to YouGov, 90% of Americans report hearing about the Epstein Files, including 48% who have heard a lot.

• They Hate How Trump is Handling This: A Reuters poll found that only 23% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling the Epstein Files.

• People Think Trump Was Involved: In the YouGov poll, 50% of Americans think Trump was involved and 52% think he is trying to cover up Epstein’s crimes.

• Republicans are Starting to Come Home: The issue is starting to get polarized and viewed through a partisan lens. Trump’s approval among Republicans on handling the Epstein Files is up 12 points in the last few weeks.

There’s so much noise out there about the Epstein Files that it’s important to ground any discussion of strategy and messaging with data on what is breaking through and how people are interpreting it.

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The False Choice

Most Democrats view messaging as a binary choice: You either run on issue A or issue B. You have to pick one, and to be honest, much of our party has been paralyzed by that choice for a long time. This cycle the debate is whether we talk about affordability, immigration, or Epstein. Too many people believe that if you decide to talk about Epstein, you’re deciding not to talk about affordability or ICE or something else that’s important and potentially compelling.

That’s an overly simplistic way of thinking about political messaging. You don’t run on an issue or a slogan. The spoils don’t go to the person who says “affordability” the most between now and election day. A political campaign is a storytelling exercise.

When major events like the Epstein Files dominate the news, the goal isn't to abandon your message—it's to weave them into your larger story. Don't ping-pong between disconnected issues chasing attention.

When it comes to Epstein, Democrats don’t have a choice. This is the dominant story in American politics. It has broken through the political media bubble. As a party, we struggle to get voters’ attention. We don’t have a media apparatus as powerful as the Right’s, nor do we have many politicians with the skill and stature to grab people’s attention. When a political issue is this dominant, it would be political malpractice to ignore it, even if the polls said affordability was “more important.”

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The Epstein Class Message Works

It’s not a choice between the economy and Epstein. The story of the Epstein Files is the story of the American economy. There are two sets of rules: one for the elites and one for everyone else.

This is why the term “Epstein Class,” coined by Ro Khanna and popularized by Jon Ossoff, is so powerful. It links the economic story that dominates people’s lives with the Epstein Files, which dominate political conversations in the media.

Here’s one way to use it:

There are two sets of rules in Donald Trump’s America: one for the elites and one for the rest of us. That’s why billionaires and corporations get tax cuts and you get kicked off your healthcare. It’s why politically connected fraudsters get pardons and hardworking people are getting snatched off the street because of the color of their skin. And it’s why no one in the Epstein Files has been held accountable. Donald Trump’s government is all about protecting the elites. We need someone who will take on the Epstein Class.

This is a story that makes sense to voters, ties into what they’re already talking about, and happens to be true.

To once again build a governing majority, Democrats need to show voters that we will take on a corrupt political system to build an economy centered on working people. That’s easier said than done, but running against the “Epstein Class” is a start.