Report: Texas Republican candidate Don Huffines owns Jeffrey Epstein’s Santa Fe ranch

A new report revealed that Donald Huffines, a Republican running in Texas’ Comptroller of Public Accounts race in 2026, is the owner of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in Santa Fe, N.M.

According to Huffines’ campaign spokesperson Allen Blakemore, Huffines bought the property sometime in 2023.

“Four years after Mr. Epstein’s death, the Huffines family purchased property in New Mexico listed at public auction whose proceeds benefited his victims. Prior to the auction listing, they had never visited the property,” Blakemore said in a statement last Friday.

The Santa Fe New Mexican also reported that it had obtained records showing that Huffines owns San Rafael LLC, a limited liability company created one month before the purchase. After Huffines purchased the property, it was renamed San Rafael Ranch, and the address was also changed to 49 Rancho San Rafael Road (previously 49 Zorro Ranch Road). 

Last week, Texas Monthly reported that Huffines owns an expansive real estate business. Huffines’ campaign has not responded to media requests from Heartland Signal and other outlets regarding why he purchased Epstein’s ranch.

Huffines was a member of the Texas state Senate from 2015-19 before an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2022. Huffines has numerous endorsements from prominent conservatives in his bid for comptroller, a position where he would oversee the collection of state taxes and generally manage the state’s finances if he wins.