A Democrat running for Congress in a competitive Colorado district released an ad on Monday that features the family of Virginia Giuffre, one of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent victims.
The ad is squarely pointed at Representative Jeff Crank, criticizing him for blocking the release of federal files related to Mr. Epstein and accusing him of refusing to meet with Ms. Giuffre’s relatives.
“Jeff Crank covered up Epstein’s crimes to protect Donald Trump,” says Sky Roberts, the brother of Ms. Giuffre, who died by suicide last year. “He has no business being in Congress.”
Mr. Roberts and his wife, Amanda, who is also featured in the spot, are constituents of Mr. Crank, a Republican who is facing a tough re-election race against Jessica Killin, an Army veteran and former congressional aide to Democratic lawmakers.
Mr. Epstein and his crimes have emerged as a major issue in this year’s midterm races, as candidates across the country hammer their opponents over their positions on releasing the files and their ties to donors and supporters associated with him.
A New York Times analysis identified at least 35 congressional races with TV or digital ads that mentioned “Epstein” since January 2026. Many featured candidates running against what they called the “Epstein class.”
But the ad in Colorado’s Fifth Congressional District is unique because it features testimony from family members of one of Mr. Epstein’s most well-known victims.
Speaking directly to the camera, the couple say they have repeatedly asked to see Mr. Crank but were refused. The spot concludes with an image of their meeting with Ms. Killin.
“When he had the chance to expose the truth and release the Epstein files, he repeatedly voted to cover them up,” Ms. Roberts says in the ad.
Mr. Crank did not sign onto the bipartisan discharge petition that helped forced a vote on the release of the files, and he voted to block consideration of the Epstein Files Transparency Act on the House floor. In the final vote, however, Mr. Crank joined nearly every member of the House to approve the legislation.
A spokesman for Mr. Crank’s campaign could not immediately be reached for comment.
In an interview, the couple said they eventually met with Mr. Crank’s district director. They also joined protests against Mr. Crank and participated in news conferences outside his Colorado Springs office urging him to advocate for more transparency around the files.
They were driven by Ms. Giuffre’s death and a desire to continue her fight to expose Mr. Epstein, they say in the ad. They were pushing Mr. Crank to sign the bipartisan discharge petition that would clear the path for the legislation to come to the floor for a vote.
Mr. Roberts, who said he identifies as an independent, said they spoke with about 20 lawmakers from both parties. But not Mr. Crank.
“At the end of the day, the bare minimum of this job in this role is to hear your constituents,” said Ms. Roberts. “How can you stay with your constituents and vote according to their needs if you have no idea what their needs are?”
Ms. Giuffre was the first of Mr. Epstein’s victims to go public, which she did years after anonymously suing him and Ghislaine Maxwell, his co-conspirator, for recruiting her to join his sex-trafficking ring when she was a minor.
She accused Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell of forcing her to have sex with Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and later accused him of battery and sexual assault. He flatly denied the accusations, but he relinquished his royal duties in 2019 amid the public firestorm. Earlier this year, he was arrested in connection with an investigation into accusations of misconduct in public office related to his links to Mr. Epstein.
With the ad, Democrats are seeking an edge in a race that has grown increasing competitive, as the national environment has turned against Republican incumbents.
Republicans have held the fast-growing, Colorado Springs-area district since its creation in 1973. But, this year, Democrats have included the race on their list of targets, a sign that the party believes Ms. Killin can flip the seat.
