James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas, accused his rival Ken Paxton of “ignoring” survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse, as Democrats seek to increase pressure on Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Speaking in Dallas, where Republicans are holding a midterm convention this week, Talarico appeared alongside one of Epstein’s victims at an exhibit that featured about 3.5m pages of Department of Justice’s files related to Epstein.
“When did pedophilia become a partisan issue? When did holding sexual abusers accountable become controversial?” Talarico said.
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Talarico, who has emerged as one of the Democrats’ best hopes of winning one of the Republican Senate seats they need for a majority in the chamber, is among several members of his party appearing in Dallas this week, seeking to counter the Donald Trump-led convention.
Democrats have made it clear in recent days that highlighting Trump’s longtime friendship with Epstein, a convicted sex offender, will be part of their strategy ahead of the midterms, and Talarico sought to loop Paxton into the attack. Talarico said survivors of Epstein’s abuse had requested to meet with Paxton, the Texas attorney general, but he had refused.
“Our attorney general here in Texas has the power to get justice for these survivors, and he’s refusing to do so,” Talarico said.
He added: “Ken Paxton has two choices: he can stand with these survivors and get justice, or he can continue to cover up Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse. The choice is entirely his.”
The Epstein exhibit, which has previously been shown in New York, features row upon row of shelves holding all the files released so far related to Epstein. Critics say some of the documents released by the government revealed victim’s names, and that some material has been withheld.
Speaking in Dallas, Sharlene Rochard, a survivor of Epstein’s abuse, said: “Questions remain about what hasn’t been released and why. Releasing only half of the documents is not transparency, and it cannot be where accountability ends.
“I urge people to read the files, to follow the evidence, no matter where they lead. And when those leads reach someone wealthy, famous, politically connected, Republican or Democrat, keep following them, because justice that stops when it reaches power is not justice.”
On Wednesday Gina Hinojosa, the Democrat running against the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, visited the same exhibit, reinforcing that the focus on Trump’s relationship with Epstein will not go away.
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“It’s really incredible that we live in a country where the justice system is so broken at every level that there has not been accountability of what we know was extensive sexual abuse, exploitation that happened for decades,” Hinojosa said, according to Associated Press. “And that powerful people who run this country are still living their lives without having been held to account.”
Elsewhere Democrats condemned Trump’s Wednesday night speech promising a $5,000 “dividend” to all US adults if Republicans win the House of Representatives and Senate in November.
Beto O’Rourke, former US congressman and presidential candidate, told a roundtable hosted by Bloomberg News in Dallas: “I think people will take it for what it is – it’s a gimmick, it’s a bribe. It’s another promise that the president will be unable to fulfill … It adds to the stink of desperation that is emanating from that convention centre.”
At a press conference in a hotel near the convention centre, Robert Garcia, a Democratic congressman from California, told reporters: “Donald Trump is a known liar. This is the biggest liar to ever serve in government, period. And look, the dividend is not happening. He promised a dividend on tariffs; that didn’t happen. He promised the dividend on Doge; that didn’t happen. He promised some strange dividend from Air Force One six months ago; that never happened.
“There’s no one in the country that thinks somehow this new dividend is actually going to happen. What the American people want is the president to actually focus on lowering the costs of gas, groceries and expand healthcare. The president has done the opposite. He’s made everything more expensive, and so he needs to stop lying and actually get to work.”
Madeleine Dean, a congresswoman from Pennsylvania, described Republicans’ first midterm convention as a failure. “I think you can take a look at the arena last night, you can see the empty seats,” she said. “He is weak. His approval rating has plummeted. His numbers on the economy: a disaster. His numbers on this war: a disaster. His numbers of the personal economy for everyday Americans: a disaster. This is a spectacle really laced with fear.”
The Democrats also faced questions about their colleague Senator John Fetterman’s surprise appearance in a video at the Republican convention. Dean said she has known Fetterman and his family for years “but what we have seen in his service as a senator is something very different than what I got know around John. You can see in his work ethic that he’s just not present.”
The congresswoman said she held a one-to-one meeting with Fetterman in his office a couple of months ago, but it was “a disappointing conversation” and “he was not listening to me”. She added: “I am gravely disappointed with John and that stunt … I will tell you from the ground from suburban Philadelphia, my constituents are livid. Those who went out and knocked doors for him are absolutely livid.”
