DIRTY EPSTEIN CLASS MONEY
Quick question for you. Can you campaign against billionaire money while a billionaire’s half million pays for your TV ads? In central Kentucky this fall, the answer appears to be yes, as long as you don’t pick up the phone when a reporter calls. Take the red pill with me this morning. It comes with a canceled check.
“Dirty Epstein class money”
Kentucky’s 6th District, the Lexington seat Republican Andy Barr is leaving to run for Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat, is a real race this year. Democrat Zach Dembo, a former federal prosecutor and Navy veteran, is running against Republican Ralph Alvarado, a former state senator. Trump carried the district by 15 points in 2024, Kentucky Public Radio reports, yet both sides are spending like it’s a coin flip.
On Monday, Fox News reported that LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman gave $500,000 to Kentuckians Not Corruption, a super PAC backing Dembo. Alvarado didn’t hold back: “This is really, it’s dirty Epstein class money fueling Zach Dembo’s campaign. It’s offensive.”
DIRTY EPSTEIN CLASS MONEY is a campaign line. The check behind it is not. It’s in the federal record.
Reid Hoffman in San Francisco, 2011. FEC records show his $500,000 gift on Sept. 24, 2026 to Kentuckians Not Corruption. He has not been accused of wrongdoing. Credit: startupofyou, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
The check
The super PAC’s own October quarterly report to the Federal Election Commission spells it out. The line reads: Reid G. Hoffman, Anacortes, Wash., Greylock Partners, venture capitalist, Sept. 24, 2026, $500,000. The PAC reported $1,204,083.65 in total receipts from Aug. 14 through Sept. 30. That one check is about 41.5% of everything it raised. The other $500,000 came from Government That Works PAC, which Kentucky Public Radio calls “mostly dark money-funded.”
Then watch the ad buys. Per FCC records cited by Fox, the PAC’s weekly orders on Lexington’s WLEX-TV went $14,650 (Sept. 15-21), $26,450 (Sept. 22-28), $35,820 (Sept. 29-Oct. 5), then $109,990 (Oct. 6-12). Kentucky Public Radio puts its total ad spending at about $1.6 million.
Downtown Lexington, the heart of Kentucky’s 6th District, where outside groups have poured millions into the Dembo-Alvarado race. Credit: Runner1928, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
His own words
Here is what Dembo’s campaign site says on its anti-corruption plan: “When billionaires and corporations can pour unlimited money into campaigns without any transparency or accountability, ordinary voters get drowned out.” And this, which ages like milk: “the politicians who directly benefit know who they owe.”
His corruption page promises to “get rid of dark money in politics,” adding: “Big business and the ultra-wealthy shouldn’t be able to buy influence in Washington.”
Fair is fair. The money went to an independent super PAC, not Dembo’s campaign, and Fox notes “federal records do not establish that Dembo solicited or directed the donation.” Candidates can’t legally coordinate with super PACs. But candidates can say “no thanks, take my name off it.” Fox says it reached out to Dembo’s team repeatedly about disavowing the money and got no response. Alvarado’s verdict: “The hypocrisy is so thick from Dembo in which he claims he won’t take it, but yet here he is.”
It’s a national playbook
Kentucky isn’t the only place Democrats run against the “Epstein class” with Hoffman money in the tank. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia said in a statement this year: “This is the Epstein class, ruling our country. They are the elites they pretend to hate.” Fox reported in September that Hoffman gave Ossoff’s campaign the $7,000 maximum and $1 million to the Ossoff-linked New Engagement PAC.
In Texas, Senate candidate James Talarico said, “The Epstein Class has no place in Texas.” Fox, citing the Texas Tribune, reported that Hoffman has given $11.5 million to the Talarico-aligned super PAC Lone Star Rising.
What ties Hoffman to the phrase? Per that same Fox report, he has admitted staying one night on Epstein’s island during an MIT fundraising trip, and the Wall Street Journal reported he later sent Epstein ice cream with a note saying it was for him or “for the girls.” Hoffman has apologized: “by agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice. For this, I am deeply regretful.” He has not been accused of any wrongdoing. But if you make “Epstein class” your slogan, you don’t get to cash the Epstein-adjacent checks quietly.
We went through the files themselves in THE CLIENT LIST NOBODY READ. Follow Ossoff’s donors on his Money Trail.
Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, who calls Republicans “the Epstein class.” Fox reports Hoffman gave his campaign $7,000 and an Ossoff-linked PAC $1 million. Credit: U.S. Senate Photographic Studio, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
The red costume: MAGA Inc. money
Before Republicans frame this one: the outside money on Alvarado’s side is a bit bigger. Kentucky Public Radio counts $2.6 million from five PACs for Alvarado, versus nearly $2.3 million from six groups for Dembo. Nearly all of Alvarado’s comes from a new PAC called No Going Back, which has bought $2.4 million in ads and is “reportedly bankrolled by MAGA Inc.,” Trump’s super PAC. MAGA Inc.’s top funders, per KPR, include crypto company Foris Dax ($30 million), Gemini and the Winklevoss twins (more than $45 million) and Securing American Greatness, a dark money group ($21 million). Some No Going Back ads made what KPR calls “false claims” that Dembo backs “full amnesty for illegal immigrants.”
KPR also notes Alvarado has benefited from PACs funded by “people linked in the Epstein files, such as Elon Musk and Trump,” and that a group funded by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s dark money operation is texting voters for him. Republicans lecturing anyone about dark money in this race is the pot filing a noise complaint against the kettle.
Both costumes
The boring standard: if you campaign against billionaires buying elections, you say no to the billionaire buying yours. If you campaign against “Epstein class” money, you don’t stay silent when it lands on your side. Same rule for MAGA Inc., Government That Works and every super PAC with a patriotic name.
Check who’s spending in your race on our Kentucky Money Map, track the big outside groups on PACTracker, and find your state on the Money Map and electoral map.
Receipts
- Fox News (Alec Schemmel), Oct. 19, 2026. Hoffman’s $500,000 on Sept. 24; WLEX-TV orders from FCC records; Alvarado quotes; Dembo did not respond; records do not establish Dembo solicited or directed the gift.
- FEC: Kentuckians Not Corruption, October Quarterly Report (PDF). Hoffman line item; Government That Works PAC $500,000; total receipts $1,204,083.65.
- Kentucky Public Radio via WKMS (Joe Sonka), Oct. 16, 2026. Trump +15; $1.6 million in KNC ads; Government That Works “mostly dark money-funded”; No Going Back $2.4 million and MAGA Inc. donors; “false claims”; Scalise group; campaign hauls.
- Zach Dembo for Congress: Anti-Corruption Plan and Root Out Corruption. His own words.
- Fox News (Peter Pinedo), Sept. 23, 2026. Ossoff statement; $7,000 and $1 million from Hoffman.
- Fox News (Peter Pinedo), July 21, 2026. Talarico quote; $11.5 million to Lone Star Rising per the Texas Tribune; Hoffman’s Epstein ties and apology.
- Earlier Hypocrisy Democracy: THE CLIENT LIST NOBODY READ. Reader tools: Kentucky Money Map; PACTracker; Jon Ossoff Money Trail; Money Map and electoral map.
Upgrade
Paid readers pick 1 meme sticker from the Etsy shop HypocrisyDemocracy, plus quarterly sticker packs, discounts and bonus content.
If you haven’t subscribed, now’s a good time. Everything here stays free, always. But pieces like this take days of research, writing, and fact checking, and if you’d like to support that work, paid subscriptions are there. Thank you for your support!
Thanks for reading, sharing, and commenting.
Subscribe. Donate. hypocrisydemocracy.net. Hypocrisydemocracy@pm.me.
Originally published on Substack.
