Georgia Senate Debate: Jon Ossoff Declines to Disavow Epstein-Linked Megadonor Reid Hoffman

Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) pressed Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) on Tuesday night to disavow Epstein-linked Democrat megadonor and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who has donated to the incumbent’s campaign.

“Jon, one of your largest donors is Reid Hoffman. He slept on Epstein Island. He stayed at his Manhattan Townhouse. He sent Epstein ice cream and said it’s ‘for the girls.’ You claim to fight against the ‘Epstein class,’ but I’m going to tell you, this call is coming from inside the house and the ‘Epstein class’ is on stage right now, and it’s you,” Collins told Ossoff during a Georgia U.S. Senate race debate, hosted by the Atlanta Press Club.

“Will you condemn Reid Hoffman and apologize for your hypocrisy tonight?” he continued, while also asking during the debate if Ossoff would return the campaign donations he received from Hoffman. 

Ossoff’s campaign reportedly received the maximum legal contribution of $7,000 from Hoffman. Hoffman also donated $1 million to an Ossoff-linked political action committee called New Engagement PAC.

While Hoffman has not been accused of any wrongdoing, he admitted he once visited convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s private island, named “Little Saint James” but more commonly referred to as “Pedophile Island.” The billionaire reportedly visited Epstein Island and later was scheduled to stay overnight at Epstein’s Upper East Side townhouse in December 2014. Hoffman told the Wall Street Journal he visited Epstein Island for a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) fundraising trip but apologized for ever meeting with Epstein.

“It gnaws at me that, by lending my association, I helped his reputation, and thus delayed justice for his survivors,” Hoffman told the Journal. “While I relied on MIT’s endorsement, ultimately I made the mistake and I am sorry for my personal misjudgment.”

In response, Ossoff argued that Collins voted to keep the government from releasing records on Epstein, who was infamously found dead in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 after allegedly hanging himself. Ossoff did not directly address Hoffman’s support or history with Epstein.

“Mike, who on your team advised you to raise the Epstein files? You voted to cover up the evidence, Mike. Listen, folks, I want to repeat it again — it’s important to understand. When Congress was voting on whether to release that evidence, we all knew what had happened, but you voted to cover up the evidence even though you knew 14-year-old girls had been raped because Donald Trump told you to — Donald Trump, who, by the way, is named a thousand times in the Epstein files,” Ossoff said.

Ossoff appeared to be referring to several unsuccessful votes in 2025 to release the Epstein files. Collins countered that he did vote to release the Epstein files. A bill to release the files ultimately passed late last year with President Trump’s approval.

The Georgia Senate race is expected to be extremely tight and could even determine which party holds the majority during the second half of President Donald Trump’s second term. RealClear Polling shows Ossoff leading by an average of 8.1 points less than a month out from election day.

Ossoff was previously dubbed the “most vulnerable” Democrat up for reelection, but he is also widely believed to harbor ambitions to run for the presidency in 2028 — ambitions he largely denied at Tuesday’s debate. Collins represents Georgia’s 10th congressional district, owns a trucking company, and has seen early career wins, including President Trump signing the Laken Riley Act.

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.