GOP U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna discusses threats made against her

U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., offered a resolution on July 10, 2024, to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in inherent contempt for refusing to turn over audio tapes of a special counsel’s interview of President Joe Biden. (Screenshot from U.S. House website)The St. Petersburg Police Department has confirmed that officers are aware of threats made against Pinellas Republican U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna.

One of those threats came on Sunday, a day after Luna, running for re-election to a second term in Congress, posted a message on X saying, “When you label people a threat to democracy and attempt to dehumanize/lie about them, violence occurs.”

Luna was motivated to write the post on Friday after her campaign learned of a message posted (and subsequently removed) on the Facebook campaign page of her Democratic opponent, Whitney Fox.

It said: “Luna is my st Petersburg Forida [sic] neighbor. Anyone care to know more?”

The individual added, “If she is ‘hiding’ I know where she lives if anyone is interested in sending her a love letter or ……something. She dwells riiiight around the corner.”

Yolanda Fernandez, a spokesperson for the St. Petersburg Police Department, said officers confirmed that the individual lives near Luna. A detective in the Criminal Intelligence and Threat Assessment Unit spoke with him on Saturday and concluded that he “does not appear to be a threat at this time,” she said.

But, as a precaution, “directed patrols” in the area of Luna’s residence “to deter criminal activity” continued throughout the weekend.

Then, on Sunday, an email was sent directly to St. Petersburg College that Luna has described as a “shooting threat.” It is not known why such a message was sent to the college, and the St.Petersburg College spokesperson did not allow the Phoenix to view it.

“We did receive a suspicious email and, due to the nature of the email, it was forwarded to the St. Pete Police Department, as we would send any other of a similar nature,” said Samantha Stanich, communications coordinator at St. Petersburg College. She said that it did not originate from the college and was not sent from an SPC student or employee, adding that “no political officials were named in the email.”

The St. Petersburg Police Department received that message but did not take any action on it except to forward it to the U.S. Capitol Police in Washington, D.C., Fernandez said.

“This is not a joke. This is not an exaggeration that there are very real death threats coming in now because of the fact that this rhetoric has increased,” Luna told the Phoenix on Monday night.

Fierce conservative

In her less than two full years in Congress, Luna has become known for her fierce conservative views and allegiance to former President Donald Trump.

She was the architect of the House GOP’s censure of California Democrat Adam Schiff. She pushed earlier this summer for a resolution against Attorney General Merrick Garland for “inherent contempt” over his refusal to release audio recordings of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Joe Biden over his handling of classified documents.

Luna is defending her seat against Fox, a former communications and marketing officer with the Pinellas County Transit Authority who emerged last month as the winner of a five-person Democratic primary election to challenge Luna in November.

Luna alleged in her social media post on Saturday that Fox had “allowed her supporters on her campaign media social media to publicly dox, coordinate, and solicit individuals to send threatening packages to my home address.”

Unfair

Fox says that’s an unfair charge.

“Violence has no place in politics, period,” Fox said in an emailed statement to the Phoenix.

“Instead of making false accusations against my campaign, Luna should stand on her own record, which includes supporting a national no-exceptions ban on abortion and ignoring the affordability crisis. The people of Pinellas deserve a leader who will put aside partisan politics and will put them first.”

“It’s not fun,” Luna told the Phoenix Monday about the threats that she has received. “My husband’s obviously concerned. I have a child. The fact is that I don’t think this rhetoric — it’s going to get someone killed.”

Luna added that she was contacted earlier this year by someone she believes is with a liberal political action committee and who posed as a chief of staff to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. After a few text messages, the individual began sending antisemitic and sexually harassing messages, as reported Tuesday by Fox News.

Fox reported that the messages appeared to be an effort to gather opposition research and involved additional Republicans — and that the abuse started when Luna stopped responding.

Threats to Luna preceded her election to Congress. In July 2021, a Pinellas County judge approved a temporary restraining order against a man named William Braddock after an audio recording surfaced of him allegedly threatening to make her “disappear.”

Braddock had filed to run against Luna in the 2022 Republican primary in Congressional District 13 but withdrew after his comments were made public.

Trump attacks

The two alleged assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump have ignited a discussion about the deteriorating political rhetoric in the United States, with Democrats and Republicans blaming each other for being most responsible.

Luna won her seat by eight percentage points in 2022, and the district has become more Republican leaning since then in terms of registered voters. However, a St. Pete Polls survey published in late August showed Fox leading Luna, 48%-44%. Another survey for the conservative-leaning Club for Growth PAC published days later had Luna up by five points, 48%-43%.

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