Don Huffines, a self-described “courageous MAGA Republican” running for Texas comptroller, secretly bought Jeffrey Epstein’s New Mexico ranch—the same property where multiple survivors say they were sexually abused as children.
Records obtained by the Santa Fe New Mexican revealed that Huffines, a 67-year-old businessman and former state senator from Dallas, purchased the sprawling Zorro Ranch through a shell company called San Rafael Ranch LLC in 2023.
The property was first listed for $27.5 million in 2021, two years after Epstein died in a New York jail cell. The sale price was never disclosed.
Here’s where it gets worse: After buying the property, Huffines’ company fought to lower its tax valuation, arguing that the ranch’s “notoriety” justified paying less. The Santa Fe County assessor eventually dropped the value from $21.1 million to $13.4 million. The Huffines family also renamed the address from “49 Zorro Ranch Road” to “49 Rancho San Rafael Road.”
The 26,700-square-foot hilltop mansion sits on a secluded desert property that Epstein purchased in 1993 from former New Mexico governor Bruce King. According to the New York Times, Epstein once told scientists he wanted to “seed the human race” by impregnating women there.
Several survivors have testified about abuse at the ranch. A woman identified only as “Jane” said she was 14 years old when Epstein abused her at the New Mexico property. Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent Epstein survivors, was photographed there.
Huffines’ campaign issued a statement claiming the family had “never visited the property” before the auction and that proceeds “benefited his victims.”
Huffines is currently leading in the GOP primary for Texas comptroller, according to polling released last week. His campaign website brags about endorsements from Ted Cruz, conservative influencer Riley Gaines, and the late Charlie Kirk. His pitch: bringing “President Trump’s bold leadership” to Austin and promising to “DOGE Texas.”
New Mexico lawmakers are now pushing for a bipartisan “truth commission” to investigate Epstein’s crimes at Zorro Ranch. “When we heard the allegations from his various victims of people who alleged that they were trafficked here, that they were sexually abused here—some as children—I’m just heartbroken,” state representative Andrea Romero told a local news station.
The state land office turned over 400 pages of documents related to Epstein’s purchase of the property back in 2019.