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Anna Paulina Luna

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Anna Paulina Luna
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Florida's 13th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2023
Preceded byCharlie Crist
Personal details
Born
Anna Paulina Mayerhofer

(1989-05-06) May 6, 1989 (age 35)
Santa Ana, California, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseAndrew Gamberzky
EducationUniversity of West Florida (BS)
WebsiteHouse website
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
Branch/serviceUnited States Air Force
Years of service2009–2014

Anna Paulina Luna (née Mayerhofer; born May 6, 1989) is an American politician and U.S. Air Force veteran serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 13th congressional district since 2023. She is the first Mexican-American woman elected to Congress from Florida.[1]

Early life and education

Anna Paulina Mayerhofer was born in 1989, to George Mayerhofer and Monica Luna in Santa Ana, California.[2][3] Her mother is of Mexican descent and her father of Mexican and German descent.[2] Her parents never married.[2] Luna remembered her father calling from jail when she was a child. The Washington Post contacted the California Department of Corrections, the Orange County Corrections Department and the Santa Ana jail, none of which had any records of incarceration for her father.[4] When she was 10, she found his bag of meth.[5] She claimed that her father was imprisoned multiple times for not paying child support, but The Washington Post found no records of his incarceration.[4] However, Fox News claims that Luna's office easily provided with reports that show George Mayerhofer did spend time behind bars and Luna, said on an interview to the same media that "the Washington Post's profile of her contained several mischaracterizations and factual errors". [6] With her father absent, she was raised by her mother in Los Angeles.[2]

Luna attended six different high schools before graduating.[2] At age 19, Luna enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where she served as an airfield manager at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and then in Florida.[2] She later claimed that she suffered from "enduring trauma" after experiencing a "home invasion" at 4:00 a.m. while stationed at Whiteman. Luna's roommate did not remember such a incident. Instead, there was a daytime break-in when Luna was not home. A police report supports the roommate's account.[4] Luna earned an Air Force Achievement Medal and was honorably discharged in 2014.[2] In 2017, Luna earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of West Florida.[7]

Early career

While serving in the U.S. Air Force and attending the University of West Florida, Luna modeled and appeared in publications such as Maxim and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.[2][8] Maxim selected her as the "Hometown Hottie" for Fort Walton Beach in 2014.[9] Also that year, Luna worked briefly as a waitress at a gentleman's club in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.[10] She has worked as the director of Hispanic engagement for Turning Point USA, a producer for PragerU, and a reporter for the conservative media company El American.[11]

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

Luna was the Republican nominee for Florida's 13th congressional district in the 2020 election, but lost to incumbent Charlie Crist.[12] She was elected as the U.S. representative for Florida's 13th congressional district in the 2022 election. She was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.[13]

Tenure

During the 2023 Speaker of the House election, Luna voted against Kevin McCarthy on the first 11 ballots, instead nominating Representative Jim Jordan and later Representative Byron Donalds.[14]

On January 4, 2023, Luna accused Daily Beast reporter Zachary Petrizzo of sexual harassment after he asked her about allegations that she had "some sort of relationship with a representative" and whether she was a "witch".[15]

Caucus memberships

Committee assignments

Political positions

Abortion

Luna has said that she favors abortion bans, and has called herself a "pro-life extremist".[18][19] She has said that her anti-abortion stance originates from having dissected a chicken egg in college and seeing the chick react to a scalpel blade: "God was using that opportunity to really wake me up."[3]

Economy

In an August 2022 interview, Luna said that she would support a ban on U.S. oil exports in order to increase the domestic oil supply, saying, "The United States has literally one of the biggest supplies of cleanest oil in the entire world. There's no reason why we need to be going to places like Saudi Arabia or even Venezuela to get those oil sources."[20] She said this view belonged to an "America First" platform, adding, "If it means not selling to other countries so that here in the United States, we can literally lower the gas prices, that's what I agree with."[20] President Trump had reenabled U.S. exportation of crude oil and refined products via the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

2020 presidential election

In June 2022, speaking about the 2020 United States presidential election in an interview with MSNBC, Luna said, "I believe that President Trump won that election, and I do believe that voter fraud occurred."[21] The previous month, Luna attended a red carpet event and screening of 2000 Mules, a film that claims to show evidence of widespread electoral fraud in the 2020 election.[21]

LGBT rights

Luna's website states that she opposes "radical left-wing gender theory being pushed on our kids".[22][23]

Personal life

Luna is married to Andrew Gamberzky,[4] a U.S. Air Force combat controller.[2] After marriage, she changed her surname to Gamberzky.[2] In 2019, she took her grandmother's surname, Luna, to represent her Hispanic heritage.[2] Her father, who had lived with Luna and her husband for a time, died in a car crash in January 2022.[24]

Luna claims that her father raised her as Messianic Jew, but she has also called herself a Christian.[25] However, members of her extended family stated that George was Catholic. His father, Heinrich Mayerhofer, identified as Catholic when he immigrated to Canada in 1954. She identified herself as "White, not of Hispanic origin" when she registered to vote in Okaloosa County, Florida in 2015, but later identified as Hispanic after updating her registration in 2019.[4]

Heinrich, who died in 2003, served in Nazi Germany's military in the 1940s. Luna's uncle provided a photo of Heinrich in a military uniform and the Simon Wiesenthal Center stated that it was consistent with a Wehrmacht uniform. Luna filed a stalking injunction request against her uncle in 2020, after he questioned her biography on social media. Other members of her family stated that his service in the Wehrmacht was well-known.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ Paz, Christian (December 3, 2022). "Meet the new class of Latinos in Congress". Vox.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Solomon, Josh (October 11, 2020). "The evolution of Anna Paulina Luna, Republican candidate for Congress". Tampa Bay Times. Tampa Bay Times. But much about Luna, 31...
  3. ^ a b Cramer, Ruby (November 8, 2022). "Anna Paulina Luna throws a coming-out party for new MAGA generation". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "The Making of Anna Paulina Luna". The Washington Post. February 10, 2023. Archived from the original on February 10, 2023.
  5. ^ Josh Solomon, "Evolution of a Congressional Candidate", Tampa Bay Times, 12 October 2020, 1A, 12A.
  6. ^ Washington Post's 'bizarre,' 'comical' profile of Anna Paulina Luna littered with errors, congresswoman says
  7. ^ "Anna Paulina Luna". Ballotpedia. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  8. ^ Traina, Jimmy (August 9, 2013). "Friday's P.M. Hot Clicks". The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on November 9, 2022. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  9. ^ "Maxim Hometown Hotties". Maxim. April 19, 2014. Archived from the original on April 19, 2014.
  10. ^ Schorsch, Peter (September 5, 2021). "A tough conversation with Anna Paulina Luna".
  11. ^ "Anna Paulina Luna Joins El American as Chief Correspondent, Advisory Board Member". El American. March 30, 2021.
  12. ^ "Florida Department of State Division of Elections November 3, 2020 General Election". Secretary of State of Florida. Archived from the original on February 10, 2023. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; December 27, 2022 suggested (help)
  13. ^ "Trump Will Host Fundraiser for Anna Paulina Luna". The Floridian. November 17, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  14. ^ Ivory, Danielle; Smart, Charlie; Yourish, Karen (January 4, 2023). "How Far Right Are the 20 Republicans Who Voted Against McCarthy?" – via NYTimes.com.
  15. ^ Morris, Kyle (January 4, 2023). "GOP congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna says she was 'sexually harassed' while leaving Capitol office". Fox News.
  16. ^ "Full list of Freedom Caucus Members after 2022 midterms results". Newsweek. November 10, 2022. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  17. ^ "Committees and Caucuses". Congresswoman Anna Luna. January 3, 2023.
  18. ^ Anderson, Curt (November 8, 2022). "Amid GOP gains, Dem Frost is 1st Gen Zer to win House seat". Associated Press. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  19. ^ Arnsdorf, Isaac; Sotomayor, Marianna (November 2, 2022). "New class of combative MAGA candidates poised to roil House GOP". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  20. ^ a b Patrick, Craig (August 12, 2022). "One-on-one with Anna Paulina Luna: Her views on banning oil exports, 'pork' infrastructure spending, vaccines". Fox 13 Tampa Bay. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  21. ^ a b Rogers, Kaleigh (October 25, 2022). "Most Candidates Who Think 2020 Was Rigged Are Probably Going To Win In November". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  22. ^ "Anna's Platform". Anna Paulina Luna for Congress. Archived from the original on November 10, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  23. ^ Ellenbogen, Romy (October 17, 2022). "Some Pinellas Republicans endorse Democrat Eric Lynn for Congress over Luna". The Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  24. ^ Ellenbogen, Romy (January 12, 2022). "Father of congressional candidate Anna Paulina Luna dies in car crash". Tampa Bay Times.
  25. ^ Nadeem, Reem (January 3, 2023). "Faith on the Hill". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Florida's 13th congressional district
2023–present 		Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by United States representatives by seniority
406th 		Succeeded by
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