Submitted photo Maria Pappas of Poland criticizes U.S. Sen. Jon Husted at a Monday news conference.

YOUNGSTOWN – A group of local Democrats criticized Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted for taking more than $116,000 from billionaire Les Wexner, who had a longtime relationship with notorious child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

At a Monday news conference at Wick Park Pavilion, organized by the Ohio Democratic Party, retired educators Maria Pappas of Poland — who is also the Mahoning County Democratic Party’s vice chairwoman — and Donna Zielinski of Niles said they had serious concerns about Husted’s judgment because he took the money from Wexner.

Amy Natoce, Husted’s campaign spokeswoman, said the campaign “donated all available funds to an anti-human trafficking charity.”

Those available funds are $30,800 from Husted’s former state campaign account and the $3,500 he received last year from Wexner.

The Wexner money taken by Husted is a major talking point by his Democratic challenger, Sherrod Brown, a former 18-year U.S. senator who lost reelection in 2024.

Pappas and Zielinski criticized Husted for initially not voting to release the Epstein files. Husted voted Sept. 10 against an attempt by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York senator, to attach an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to release the Epstein files. Husted voted Nov. 19 to release the files providing details about Epstein, a child sex trafficker who died in prison in 2019. The Senate vote was by unanimous consent.

Husted is the only incumbent senator on the ballot this year who took Wexner’s money.

Zielinski said: “My objection is to how Husted handled the files,” and as an educator she was responsible for reporting any child abuse.

She said: “Why are politicians immune to that?”

Pappas said Husted exercised “bad judgment” by taking Wexner’s money and “we need those in leadership roles to lead by example.”

Pappas said: “You can judge a nation by how it treats its most-vulnerable citizens – children, underaged teens, the elderly, the handicapped. This is way bigger than the Epstein files because the Big Beautiful Bill attacks all of those vulnerable populations” and Husted voted for that.

Natoce said Wexner and his wife, Abigail, gave money “to dozens of candidates from both sides of the aisle.” Brown received no money from Les Wexner, but got $2,700 from his wife.

Natoce also questioned why Brown still refuses to “donate the funds he received from Epstein’s (other) associates.”

While Les Wexner hasn’t been charged criminally for his relationship with Epstein, he is named as a co-conspirator in the FBI’s sex trafficking investigation into Epstein.