WinSenate Ad Misleads on Hinson's Epstein Files Votes; She Backed Transparency Act Rep. Ashley Hinson opposed procedural efforts on Epstein files in 2025 but voted for the Epstein Files Transparency Act. A Democrat-backed ad claims she took donations from people named in the files. A Democrat-backed ad in Iowa's U.S. Senate race claims Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson took money from people named in the Jeffrey Epstein files and then voted to withhold those files from public view. The ad from WinSenate super PAC says a woman tells viewers that Hinson took nearly $90,000 from people in the Epstein files and voted to keep those files secret. But the ad misleads about Hinson's votes. She later voted in favor of the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act, which passed the House 427-1 in November 2025. The Epstein Files Transparency Act was a stand-alone bill introduced by Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna. It required the Justice Department to publish online all its files on Epstein. Facing increased pressure to release the files, President Donald Trump directed lawmakers to pass the measure. Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The files contain thousands of documents related to criminal investigations into Epstein, who interacted with many influential people regardless of political affiliation.On multiple occasions in 2025, Hinson opposed procedural efforts related to the release of the Justice Department files about Epstein. In one instance, Democrats pushed to defeat a motion to order the previous question, which would have ended debate and forced a vote on legislation including a defense appropriations bill and a cryptocurrency bill. If that motion had failed, it would have allowed further consideration of Khanna's amendment on the Epstein files' release. The procedural vote passed 211-210 along party lines, with Hinson and other Republicans in the majority. The ad cited this vote as evidence for its claim.The WinSenate ad also said that when given another chance, Hinson skipped the votes, and instead was raising money from a billionaire who is in the Epstein files over 20 times. The ad did not mention that Hinson later voted in favor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The liberal American Journal News reported that Hinson missed votes for Epstein-related motions in September 2025, including motions to restrict funds in favor of enabling the release of the Epstein files. Her campaign did not explain why she missed those votes.Hinson's campaign spokesperson, Billy Fuerst, pointed to her vote on the Transparency Act and described the July vote cited in the ad as a procedural motion to advance several bills, including a defense appropriations bill. Around the time of the votes, Hinson called Epstein a disgusting human being and an absolute pedophile, but said she disagreed with a separate effort to force a vote on the Epstein files' release. She also did not sign a discharge petition that would have brought a stand-alone bill on the Epstein files to the House floor.Federal Election Commission data show that Hinson received donations from people who were mentioned in the Epstein files. They are among hundreds named in the files, but that alone does not mean they were involved in wrongdoing or had close ties with Epstein. News reports and FEC data show that Hinson received donations from current Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Blackwater CEO Stephen Schwarzman, and Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, all of whose names appear in the Epstein documents. They are not accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein's crimes.An analysis reported that Hinson and her affiliated PACs accepted nearly $90,000 over three campaigns from donors whose names appear in the files. PolitiFact was unable to confirm the figure. WinSenate's ad did not specify which donors it was referring to. Not just Republican donors appear in the Epstein files. Hinson's opponent, Democrat state Rep. Josh Turek, received donations from venture capitalist and chairman of Kleiner Perkins John Doerr, who was also mentioned in the files. Doerr is not accused of wrongdoing, and the files do not reflect that he directly corresponded with Epstein.Hinson faces Turek in the race to replace Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who is not seeking re-election. As a super PAC, WinSenate may raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to campaign independently for federal candidates. The group's ads mislead about Hinson's votes on the Epstein files' release. Hinson opposed a procedural maneuver allowing a vote on the Justice Department's release of the Epstein files. She opposed two other similar procedural efforts related to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but later voted for the bill in November 2025. The measure passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.