Ana Paulina Luna has a habit of going viral.
In the span of a single month, the Florida Republican endorsed a CIA whistleblower’s theories on the JFK assassination record, promised a new dump of classified UFO files, teamed up with MHA activists to fight pesticide manufacturers, and openly flirted with running for leadership of the Republican National Committee.
It’s a liberal agenda, but it has the same underlying ingredient: high-octane Internet virality. At 37, the congresswoman has become one of the most aggressive practitioners of the politics of attention on Capitol Hill, thriving on a curated cocktail of public confrontation and MAGA-friendly internet rabbit holes.
His approach has earned him a devoted online following and made the two-term lawmaker a rising figure in Republican grassroots politics. It has also irked many of his allies, including Republicans, who privately describe him as impulsive, media-obsessed and willing to overstep the facts to dominate the screen.
“I’m Mike Johnson’s favorite headache,” Luna said laughing in an interview, referring to the House speaker, a Republican.
Luna enters Congress in 2023 with an already established online presence: The Air Force veteran previously worked as a model and for Turning Point USA, the conservative group founded by Charlie Kirk in 2012 that rapidly expanded into colleges and high schools. He has taken it forward and as of today, he has around 790,000 followers on Instagram and almost one million X followers on his personal account. While Luna said she rejects the influencer label, her X account biography contains a link to a 2023 profile titled: “The Influencer Who Came to Congress.”
The key to Luna’s social media skills is his ability to identify politically explosive issues that are of interest to the GOP base. He has pushed to oust colleagues facing allegations of unethical behavior and misconduct, while inserting himself into a policy debate that has divided the GOP convention. Meanwhile, in her role as chair of the House Oversight Task Force on the declassification of federal secrets, she often becomes embroiled in popular conspiracy theories.
Her critics have described her tendency to jump into fights as attention-grabbing, arguing that her positions are sometimes contradictory or that she is willing to distort information or make claims without evidence to get her message out.
“She’s very talented, but she operates outside of the process, and I think institutionally that’s a problem,” said retired Representative Ryan Zinke, a Montana Republican, who described Luna as part of a change in the way lawmakers follow House decorum rules, which he said began during the coronavirus pandemic when members were largely virtual.
Luna says the criticism is a result of “holding their feet to the fire”. He said he was proud of his record of bypassing House GOP leadership to advance his agenda, claiming that if more members knew the rules they could do the same. House Speaker Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have both been targets of his actions, but have avoided confronting him publicly.
“Everything I’ve had to do is act outside of the normal process, because if you don’t fall in line they will deliberately block your legislation and I refuse to give up my autonomy,” Luna said.
His platform is powerful: Multiple House Republicans who are privately uncomfortable with his methods declined to be named, pointing out that they do not want him or their online allies to come after him on social media.
New York Republican Representative Nick LaLotta said, “Although she has a large following on Twitter, she is not the person I go to for legislative advice.”
Luna’s small group of allies on the Hill is extremely loyal and ranges from conservatives to centrists. He says she offers support even when it is politically inconvenient and argues that she has been successful in drawing attention to issues she and the American public care about.
Ohio Republican Representative Max Miller, who calls Luna a friend, said, “People may not like how she does things, but no one can say she’s not effective at what she does.”
Luna’s status as a disruptor within her party stems in part from last year when she pressured the House to allow proxy voting for new parents in Congress. His efforts, which included working closely with Democrats, drew a staunch conservative backlash and led to his decision to leave the House Freedom Caucus. She says she still wants Hill to adopt such a policy.
But there is a long list of other moments when Luna has been openly at odds with or pushing members of her party.
He has long pushed for restrictions on trading in Congress, arguing that members of Congress should not “enrich themselves with insider knowledge.” He has worked openly with Democrats on populist issues, such as introducing legislation with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — a New York Democrat often villainized by Republicans — aimed at capping credit-card interest rates.
At times, Luna’s quickness to engage online has led to its own controversy.
Last week, Luna said she was filing charges against the co-founder of the leftist group CodePink, claiming he stalked her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee and “assaulted” her. CodePink later posted a video of the conversation on X that showed co-founder Madea Benjamin lightly touching her arm. Luna replied that Benjamin had “crossed a personal line that should never be crossed.”
Last month, Luna publicized online and on television the claims of a Central Intelligence Agency whistleblower who alleged that intelligence officers had removed boxes related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the MKULTRA human experimentation program, which were being processed by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for declassification. He suggested that the episode seemed like an “internal coup” during the NewsNation hit – and the interview was used on social media and other outlets to claim that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s office had been raided.
A few hours later, Gabbard’s press secretary publicly stated that the “raid” claims were false. Luna insisted that he never used the word raid and said that he based it on reports from a whistleblower account. He argued that Congress should look into such situations. She also said she met with the CIA shortly after to get their side of the story.
A few days earlier, Luna had jumped into a clash between MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) activists and his House GOP colleagues, promising to “kill the Farm Bill” over language that protects pesticide manufacturers from health lawsuits. Luna successfully introduced an amendment to remove the language from the bill. Some Republicans accused him of having MHA workers come after him.
Luna admitted that the fight caused estrangement. She felt that she had yielded to an issue on which the mother agreed. Some of her colleagues argued that this was an example of her focusing on something she did not fully understand just to get TV time.
“I actually have a text message from a member of the (Agriculture) committee saying I was fighting the pesticide liability shield to get attention, and I was very much a liar,” Luna said.
A month ago, Luna was also constantly in the news. He made headlines for his efforts to oust Republican Representative Tony Gonzales of Texas and Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell of California over sexual misconduct allegations. Before the two embattled lawmakers resigned in mid-April, he had threatened to proceed with an expulsion vote, preempting an investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
“I was one of the only members of Congress who was willing to call out her party and others and oust them,” she said.
Her critics say that her defense of women is sometimes inconsistent and that she often makes allegations without evidence.
Luna has accused Senator Ruben Gallego of sexual misconduct, which she says is based on other women’s accounts and has referred her to the Senate Ethics Committee. A spokesperson for the Arizona Democrat dismissed Luna’s claims as “right-wing conspiracy theories being repeated by a far-right member of Congress.” Gallego’s office said the senator actively met with the Ethics Committee in April.
Amid Trump administration pressure on GOP supporters to oppose the measure, Luna also refused to sign a bipartisan immunity petition that forced the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Luna said she supports his release, but opposes the petition because she did not want to “intentionally use him in a personal battle that is still ongoing in the election.”
He has also dismissed the allegations against President Trump as baseless or unproven. Luna said the difference is in the “evidence” brought forward against House members, adding, “While we interviewed several people who accused the President, there was no evidence.”
Although representing her district is an “honor and privilege”, Luna said that being in Congress is not her long-term goal.
“I think a lot of people want to do this for 20 years,” Luna said. “I don’t want to do this for 20 years.”
Write to Olivia Beavers here olivia.beevers@wsj.com and sabrina rodriguez sabrina.rodriguez@wsj.com
