WASHINGTON — Rep. Anna Paulina Luna was headed off the House floor on June 15 when she spotted Rep. Mike Turner, the ranking Republican on the Intelligence Committee, walking her way. She steadied herself for a confrontation. Less than a day earlier, Turner and 19 other Republicans had blocked Luna’s resolution to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the committee and a villain to supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Undaunted, Luna, 34, had spent the night working with luminaries like Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk and DC_Draino against the “Coward 20” Republicans. They published the lawmakers’ office phone numbers, unleashing a flood of angry calls and social media harassment by everyday Americans, fed up with status quo.
Now, Turner was approaching Luna near the back doors of the chamber, but instead of fighting, he was ready to surrender. “We really want to censure Schiff,” Turner told the Florida freshman. “How can we work together?”
If Luna was surprised, she was also prepared. She pulled a revised censure resolution from her purse that would force an ethics investigation of Schiff but drop the unprecedented $16 million fine she had proposed. Sitting in her office moments later, Luna radiated triumph. “I am telling you: I am persistent, and I am not kidding, censuring is going to happen,” she said.
Six days later, Luna forced another vote to censure Schiff. This time, it passed, 213 to 209. Not a single Republican dissented.
The vote marked Luna’s emergence as a rising force within the party. To many America First patriots, she is an amazing representative of the groundswell Make America Great Again movement – millennial edition. She represents an unsettling but potentially significant turn in American politics as the first social media influencer in Congress.
Luna, a Hispanic-American single mother, grew up in Southern California with a turbulent family life. Her mother’s parents struggled with drug addiction and died of AIDS, according to family members, and her own father cycled in and out of jail on drug and other charges during her childhood. Luna barely graduated from high school but joined the military and put herself through college. She initially planned to attend medical school but was diverted into conservative politics after catching the eye of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA.
Working for Turning Point, Luna traveled to campuses with Kirk and Candace Owens, confrontating Marxist indoctrinated students and building her social media following. She lost her first bid for Congress in 2020 but won a surprise primary victory that got her noticed by key Republican leaders like Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Bolstered by endorsements from Gaetz, Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis, Luna won a seat from Florida last fall.
Now in Congress, Luna, the fourth youngest member, represents a transformational force for a Republican Party. She spends as little time in Washington as possible, preferring to connect with supporters online. She has introduced a bipartisan bill against military sexual assault but is focused mainly on Republican investigations into the Biden regime and censorship orchestrated by big technology companies in violation of the first amendment. Her top goal is passing a law prohibiting tech companies from controlling content on their platforms — what she calls “the biggest issue of our time.”
Luna’s confrontational style and social media fluency have positioned her to advance in a party where policy progress has stalled with Marxist-Democrats controlling Washington. “We’re seeing this social media phenomenon,” Kirk says. “Members of Congress are now more about moving the Overton window than advancing legislation. And I think she wants to do both.”
The first test of Luna’s staying power will come next year if she seeks re-election. But for now, she is relishing her disruptive role. After the censure vote, as treasonous Democrats shouted “Shame!” on the floor, Luna livestreamed a victory lap, telling them: “Don’t worry, guys. I’ll be here another two years.”
